Last Big Beams

Today we placed the last of the big beams.  While there are still several 4x12's that need to be placed in the roof, this 36' glue lam beam for the deck was the last of the ridulously heavy and awkward beams. As you can see, it took 7 of us to get it into place.

Walking it up our neighbors driveway

Through the yard was still the easiest way to get it into place.  The lot is too steep to move it directly up and in position.

These trees have helped us more than we knew they would.  For as much cursing as we did in the beginning trying to remove the roots around the rock, we have been very thankful for the others in the area.

Two blog posts in one day, how 'bout that.  Today we worked on the deck.  As you can see we brought another carpenter into the fold.  Travis is a friend of Pat's from Big Bear.  With his help we were able to get a good start on the landing right outside of the dinning room french doors.

 Yep, another boulder added to the mix.  This will make a nice rail/sitting area.

 While we were outside with the deck Bonnie was inside doing some demo in the kitchen.  We had some good news, the ceiling in the kitchen is T&G pine, just like the ceiling in the front room.

Decking and Roofing

We got the front part of the roof framed and sheeted.  Eric is bringing up a friend this weekend that is a good roofer.  That's when we hope to finish up all of the framing and sheeting of the roof.  In addition to the new portion of the house, we are doing a full tear off on the existing roof so we can insulate.  This is a shot I took looking into the new master bedroom while sitting on the existing ridge beam.  Needless to say, all of these angles are giving us a challenge.... as if the project in itself wasn't a challenge.

We are turning our attention to the deck.  Bonnie and I got the posts cut and a couple of the beams put in place.  This is a shot from the master bedroom balcony looking down.  Hopefully by getting the deck in, we will have a flat surface to work from.  The slope of our lot still makes it difficult to move materials around.  With the window order in process, we will hopefully have an easier time installing with some flat surfaces to level the ladders.

 We are starting to reap the bounty of our garden.  Bonnie and Finn picked the first fruit of their labors.

Today rafters were on the to do list.  WOW these are complicated.  On the easy ones there is an angled cut on one side and a compound angle on the other.  My first experience with compound angles was when Dad and I tried to figure out how to put in the crown molding in the new living room.  After an afternoon of 'Dang Nab it' (Dad's words, not mine)  we called in a professional.  30 years later they are still a bit, shall we say "tricky".  The more complicated members also included not one but two seat cuts that fell where each rafter rests on each one of the two beams.  Pat and Eric were the professionals behind this one.    

 What are we even looking at?

Tomorrow it's rinse and repeat.  As if I know anything about hair care.

Putting together and taking apart

Todd and Eric spent the day trying to figure out the complicated roof angles.  A good friend of ours, Brad, who is a contractor, took time out of his busy schedule to give us some advice on how to set the valley.   Today was more about brain power than brawn- although plenty of muscle was used to get the micro-lam beam in place.  Todd and Bonnie carried it from the street yesterday and Eric and Todd hefted it into place today.

View from the highest beam looking down into the valley- of our new bedroom roof

Looking up that same valley rafter

 We also needed to do alittle demolition in order to get the delivery of some new appliances.  Sears will be delivering our new refridgerator in the morning and the existing whole wasn't big enough.  Although the new appliances are alittle premature in the process- we needed to take advantage of a 30% off sale when it arose.  Also, Bonnie and Finn went to the Sears Outlet over the weekend and scored a pretty good deal on a new stove. So we'll need to make room for that soon too, as we can only drive around with it in the back of the truck for so long.

The hole in the wall where our old refridgerator was.  We needed to make more room for the new one being delivered tomorrow, although this won't be its final destination.

Piles of roof

This pile of wood came last week.  It's our roof.  You might notice that framing, which needs to be in place before sheeting, is on the top of the pile as well as the bottom.  Looks like it will all need to be moved up at the same time.  Since I'm not training much this is a good way to try and stay in shape.  Today Bonnie and I chipped away at the stack.

We can now enter our addition without the aid of ladders or creative climbing.  Not as fun but the traditional method has proved to be much more efficient and yes, welcoming.  We still need to add facing to the rises which we'll do after we remove the old deck.

It's like wrapping a present... for us

Today we started to wrap and sheet the house.  We needed to get the sheeting on before we could finish the exterior stairs up to the addition. Once these stairs go in, this process will hopefully go alittle faster since we won't have to go up the slope of the yard with materials.   

We started the day by wrapping the house in moisture barrier, Pat and Bonnie took the lead on this task. Then we placed the sheets of plywood siding over it.  All the different angles and surfaces made it a bit more difficult than if our house was a "normal" shape but it did make us feel like there was a huge jump in the process since we can no longer see through the structure.

We also had a roofer come by to give us an estimate for adding shingles to the new roof (and the old one too.)  We will have more work to do on the south side of the house to prep it since there is currently no insulation in the roof and it needs some tlc.

Slow going

The past few days we've been preparing for siding.  We finished up most of the curved wall before Trevor had to switch over to his other summer job, T.D. for the summer theater program at Idyllwild Arts.  We'll miss him but he'll be back in three weeks.  Friday Dave stopped by with a little visitor he found on the way to his compost bin.   

 When he released it (a rattlesnake) out in the forest he noted that it measured about 5 feet long.  We found it strange that it never rattled.  Over the weekend Bonnie, Eric, and I got the lower level landing, all of the interior steps and the entryway closet in place.

The step up to the main level started at about four feet wide at the landing and curve wide to about 6 feet at the top - Lots of custom cuts.

 This is a shot taken from the crawl space toward the entryway landing.

Highs and flows...

Yesterday the rains came.  Trevor, Bonnie and I didn't get as much done as we hoped.

We did get the wall of our new front door framed and learned "first-hand" the importance of eaves, downspouts and rain gutters...

Today was all about getting the last of our beams up.  We needed to set the highest beam and the one that run perpendicular to the existing house.  We managed to get them in place with the brawn of Eric, Dave, Trevor, Micheal, Bonnie and me. 

 After a couple of hours of lifting and a couple more of fine tuning we were set.

 This is the high point of our new house...without the roof.

Happy Independence Day

Not much happened on the house today (ok, nothing happened on the house today)  Finn was able to walk in the parade with Poppi and he had a great time.  They walked with the Mountain Community Fire Safety Group.  The group specifically was called the "Woodies" which is a group that volunteers to help with wood cutting for people that need assistance in the community.  The toy chain saw that was mentioned earlier in this blog, also made cameo appearance in the parade.  Since we have never been in Idyllwild for a 4th of July celebration, we were surprised by the scope of the event.  There were over 70 entries into the parade and hundreds of spectators.  The number of people that lined North Circle was amazing.  It was really fun seeing some many people from our community either involved in the parade or spectating.

After the parade, Finn was bushed and fell asleep in the stroller on the walk home.  So as soon as he woke, we headed to Daniel and Margaret Gray's house for a cook out.  Despite the ominous clouds that swirled around us all day, the drops didn't come until late in the night.  Of course there were no fireworks in Idyllwild but we managed to see a few on tv which satisfied the only lacking part of the day.  All in all, it was a fantastic day.

Preparing for the highest beam

Yesterday Dave stopped by early to get us up to speed on the day's tasks.  We finished framing up the wall that will carry our highest beam.  We are hoping to set it Wednesday along with the beam that runs perpendicular to the existing house.  By the end of the day Trevor, Eric, Bonnie and I got the framing to the point that we'll be able to set the beam.

View from the back of the house looking toward the street

View from the street

View from the driveway

Today we are taking off.  Finn is going to march in the fourth of July parade with Poppi and then we are off to a friend's house for cook out.  Hope everyone has fantastic holiday

Raise high the roof beam, carpenters...

Yesterday Eric and I started  the day with a road ride.  Later in the morning Dave, Lucas and Trevor stopped by to place the first of four beams that we needed to move.  After we were treated to Breakfast borretos from Lucas the guys got working on setting the header to support the beam we placed.   

Later in the afternoon the troops showed up to move the last three beams.  Who are the troops?  Along with the four us Daniel, Margaret, Dave, Tom, Justin, and Bonnie.  Poppie stopped by to take some pictures of the fun and Syd and Carmen were kind enough to hang out with Finn while we were moving the heavy stuff.  Finn has a tendency to want to help and then is typically in the exact wrong location at the right time.