There were more amazing accomplishments this week. The framing for the new dining room, entry hall, porch entry, chimney extension and 1/2 of the new roof were all completed.
It seems like summer will never end. We had temperatures well into the 90's again this week with clear skies which is making construction move right along, however, the lack of rain (none for about 7 weeks now) has made everything extremely brown and dry and the ground is like cement. Good thing we are spending lots of time in our basement kitchen/living room where it is cool. With all of the insulation removed from the house and the roof half gone, it is a scorcher up in the house.
First thing Monday morning, Patrick began building the framing for the new dining room. It was very exciting watching the room take form as the walls went up.
As the carpenters were busy framing, the stone masons arrived to begin building the scaffold around the chimney. Their first job is to raise the chimney 4 feet. This is required by code as the new roof will be higher and steeper than the current roof. To see these very large men carry these huge pieces of limestone up an extension ladder to the roof on their shoulders is a sight.
And, in over 90 degree heat! UGH!
In this photo, the sand for mixing the mortar is being delivered.
Scaffold goes up around the chimney
As the framing and chimney were being worked on, a couple of the boys began removing part of the old roof (or course now it will rain!). Having framing, stone work and roof work going on at the same time is a perfect example of why the job is moving along so swiftly. At times there were over 10 guys here (and one woman. Me!) working away.
As the old roofing and tongue-in-groove decking were removed, we were all amazed at what perfect condition the old framing was in. We will save lots of this trussing material to re-use in other places during the project.
A few rows of old stone were removed from the top of the chimney in preparation for the extension to be laid. Bubby used a gas powered stone cutter to cut the stones away and nearly disappeared in the cloud of dust he created while doing it. All the while smoking a cigarette and wearing no dust mask. I can't imagine how he is able to breathe!
Bubby prepares stones to extend the chimney from the pile we salvaged off of the front of the house while Sam and his helper prepare the liner extension on the chimney.
It's unbelievable how these guys are able to carry these huge stones up the ladder by hand.
The finished product is just beautiful! We can't wait to see what these guys will do with the new stone porch. :o)
Meanwhile, a large section of existing roof is removed and the trussing of the new roof begins. The guys have decided to hand truss the roof instead of having the trusses prefabbed at another location and trucked in for installation. We are using 2x10's and 2x12's as most of the roof will have vaulted ceilings inside.
As they get ready to remove the old roof from over the kitchen, I prepare the plywood shields that will be installed to seal the kitchen doorway off that goes to the bedrooms and Rowan's office. Hopefully this will keep the chaos from entering that part of the house.
ACK! Where has the roof gone!!!!
You can see here how the guys are using some of the old trussing material with the new
It is getting more exciting by the moment as the new roofline is taking form!
The crew were able to get all of the exterior framing, 1/2 the new roof trussed, decked and papered and the chimney raised in one week.
An amazing feat as there appear to be clouds rolling in for the weekend. Fingers crossed it won't pour on us :o)
