Projaholics…We’re Baaaaack!

A 5 year project is nearly at an end.  We originally started with building a garage.  When we bought the house it had a carport….and hubby waited years till we could build one. 

Well, 2 months after the garage was built we found there was a bunch of air pockets in the floor, and in the end they ripped it out and re-poured it

. Which left us with 22 yards of concrete slabs in our front yard which, we called “yard art”.  With that we built a courtyard/patio 40ft long between the house and garage which ends with the 6ft wall you see in the photo.

Because, What else would we do with it!

So, for the past few years we’ve had a mini mountain of rubble (as in solid, it ain’t going no where pile of concrete) that we would rabbit up and down to get to the back property. We needed steps.

  We’d looked at various plans and designs for steps but everything was just to formal for us.  Backed up to the wooded area, we wanted something that would blend into the surroundings.  We’d visited quite a few quarry’s looking at rocks but they were pricy to say the least.  So we started stashing and saving.  It seemed crazy to us to pay so much for rock to finish a project that (other than the garage) was less than $500.00!

Then a few weeks after one of our quarry visits, Larry got a call saying (one we visited a few times) the company was going out of business…come get which ever rock we wanted….free!. SCORE!!!

Each stone is 6-8 inches thick and at least 4 ft. across and 300-500 lbs.…we wanted nice wide steps.  We have folks of all ages in and out here at our house and well, we’re no spring chickens ourselves any more. 

We wanted steps wide and safe for all ages.

The stones have sat in back of the house for a few years while we built the addition & all the while we’ve discussed what we wanted to do/could do with them

Last night Larry came home and said “wanna play with rocks”?  Ahhh!  Be still my beating heart!

Prep work and planning done was done last night so this morning at 7:30 we started in with overcast skies that thankfully stayed to shade us all day.

I’m pretty sure our family thinks we’re nuts.

I know they think we’re weird!

2 popped in to “see what we were up to this time”

FYI….Crowbars break under 500 lb. stones.   Just a fact I thought I’d share..but you need them to arm-strong the stones

So do shovels…I think I’ll paint it and use it for yard art of some kind

We used Big Red to place the stones in general locations

Moving those suckers manually 4-8 ft. up the hill was not an option.

I learned all kinds of new things .  How to drive the tractor, maneuvering stones pushing them into place with the blade

Isaiah has been a part of this entire project for the past 5 yrs.  He said he was going to be here to help finish it & boy was he was a major help today

The last stone.  We weren’t sure there was enough energy in us to finish but, by 5pm we were done!

Isaiah hosed off the gravel

We are done!

The stones are brown and blue, I wish I could capture the colors.

Supper was a big salad cause that’s all we had the energy for…as in energy to chew.

Fire in the fire pit with s’mores for dessert.

Our next project?

I think I’d like it to be something that does not involve rocks!!

Katie

Technorati Tags: Katidids,projaholics,repurposing,yardart
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Projaholics…on the home stretch!

It’s been a while but after a lot of thought,I’m sticking my toe back in the blogging waters. Thank you to those who emailed offering encouragement to start back up.   Let see, where to start!

The addition is nearly  done!  We’re down to the finishing work.

My work room needs: the closet door track & doors installed and trim painted.   It’s the only room that had unpainted trim. We got a little ahead of ourselves on that one. (yes, we were to excited to wait)  After all the fussing I did about wanting color in my home, the paint color I chose is “Alpaca”.  A neutral cream-ish.  I thought I want a vibrant & bold color in here but after a lot of thought I went with something I could make bold and vibrant!  I’ve yet to find cabinets & counters I want or, am willing to pay for.   We’ve quite a few peddlers malls in the area I’ve been watching for counters & cabinets to repurpose. I think I’ll post on the local Free-cycle also.  It’s the time of year when a lot of home remodeling is going on & with any luck someone will be redoing their kitchen!

The laundry room is done.  The construction portion any way. Again I need to find a cabinet to go under the window. We have a repurposed counter stashed just waiting to be installed.

The Bathroom is painted (no trim yet) and has lights up.   Larry just created this beautiful tile floor, pretty darn good for his first tile work I think! The shower needs tiled next & once that is complete the vanity, sink & commode can be installed. 

The hall/entry area:    As this is the main entry area to the other rooms we’ve already bumped & nicked the walls a few times carrying things in. For now It’s painted, the temporary flooring is in and the closet door is up but to avoid re-doing work, we will finish this area last.

It’s been a long road getting here but we’re on the home stretch now!

Technorati Tags: Katidids,projaholics,addition,do it your selfers

Framing Is

Progressing!  As of tonight, We have the 2  main interior walls framed!

Not only that but we found the top of the concrete basement wall so we were able to plan the exact floor level to allow plumbing & heat ducting.  Sounds as if were going about this bas-akward I know.  The prior owner had at one time a basement leak so, he dug out all around and poured a second basement wall, then re-walled the main floor….so from the exterior, you couldn’t tell where the floor we are joining to was located.  We could have just cut the new entry but, we don’t have the exterior door on yet…..we needed to set the darn floor level!  But, we have it now so we can move forward!  He didn’t say it but, I think Larry was worried we would end up needing to punch through to the existing living space.

We’re at that awkward point, the exterior is up & painted, the interior is framed but it also cuts out a lot of natural light.  We have one light fixture in…kind of a redneck porch light inside the addition (so we don’t trip over anything) as the evening wears on we will have to set up the big glaring work lights. 

Chris & Erika came over Sunday and said “can we help?”  A resounding YES! and they were handed paint brushes and put to work applying the first coat to the exterior & working on the tan This supervisor took her job seriously!Until she was caught napping on the job!

I think we all envied her …shade and a breeze.

Erika had the stitches removed.  It’s healing pretty well but, she will need repair to the interior of her lip.  She has large knots of tissue that will need to be minimized or they will cause problems down the road. 90+ degrees meant mandatory pool breaks were in order Compost boy looks heartbroken right?

Such a tough life!

Technorati Tags: constuction,kids

We’re getting there!

Progress little bits at a time.   We had all the windows in when Rachel Adam & Hayden came up to help last weekend.  Building inspector said we’re good to go!

Besides having a great visit it was wonderful having the extra hands to help/do the grunt work.   So, while Mr.Fix~It was at work, we pulled the exterior siding that was now “inside”.  It would have been nice to have it all pulled prior to placing the exterior walls but, we knew they would be exposed longer than would be wise. 

This is the exterior wall to the family room….the coldest room in the house.  Even though there are plenty of heat/air ducts we’ve always needed little electric heaters to not freeze.  The computer is in this corner and your fingers would be numb before long so, I was anxious to see what was behind this wall. 

Will you look at that!  No weather board.  Interior drywall insulation & exterior siding is all there was! Look at the coldest corner…it was full of birds nests.  The insulation only went up the bottom half.  The brown spot in the top of that section is the interior paneling!  Darn birds had nearly eaten through the wall.

By the end of the weekend, we had the exterior finished on the front of the house

  

We have yet to find the window we want for the bathroom but know we have to do something to balance out that big blah spot on the front.

Monday we had the first section of the side covered & needed to stop for yard & garden work.

 

I’m not at all frustrated with our progress, we’ve been working our rears off with a “gotta do” list that seems to grow every day. I know we’ve made a LOT of progress.  I’m looking forward to get to the point where the list of “what’s next” is smaller than what’s been done. But that will be a while yet I know having only a few hours through the week and Sundays to work at this point.  80+ temps with 80-90% humidity sure doesn't help any!

My Father in Law has been cleaning out the barn & look what he found!  A big lot of canning jars.  They need a good cleaning and will be put to good use!

There is even an old blue jar.  I’ll be saving that one for sure!

Technorati Tags: Addition,construction,family

Projaholics Are Back!

We started the addition!

And it’s been….. interesting . We found out the hard way a few years ago the original owner took all kinds of short cuts when he built the house. Minor details (not)little things like water pipes plumed straight through without emergency shut off valves..you know **ahem** minor details…. So I’m not sure why I was so surprised when we started construction that NOTHING in the space where we are working in is square. Not the floor to the walls, not the outer edge, the support poles? Bah Not even the existing walls or ceiling!! So it’s been a challenge for Mr. Fix~It framing. He had the first section done (the longest area) completed last night.

This first photo is for my children, for posterity sake…I don’t think they have EVER seen this momentous event…Your Dad is actually READING THE DIRECTIONS for the new tool!!!

He claims he was just looking at photosThe wall was done & ready to go up.  We hoisted it on the pulley we rigged, were tapping it into place….& the pulley broke and down the wall went…over Mr. Fix~It!  Thankfully he was able to quickly turn to have his feet turned the length of the wall.  As it was going down I had these visions of an emergency room visit with 2 crushed feet….. Rebuilt, we called Danielle and she came over to help support the wall as we wedged it in.  This section with the framing up will be my STUDIO!!!!!!

RAHHHH! The crowd roars!!!!

Or, is that my family happy knowing the yarn will be out of the living room soon?

Technorati Tags: Projaholics,construction