We expected to see shingles going on the roof this week, but instead they are building the deck on the back of the house! Both need done, so either one is fine. I’m eager to see the long tall wall in the back get broken up by the addition of the deck — hopefully it will make it seem less imposing. Oh, and I finally got a picture of the front of our house without machinery blocking the view!

This may be the last post for awhile — it appears the framers are done! The house is now fully wrapped with the waterproofing insulation paper, all doors (except the big garage door) and windows are covered, and all the inner bracing has been removed. They even cleaned out all the debris and swept! Oh, the ceiling in the living room is now where we wanted it — approximately 14′ tall at the highest point over the windows. The roof needs shingles, and the porch roof/balcony needs to be built, as well as the deck in the back along with the roof over that. And of course all the doors and windows need to be installed. But for now, the house waits for all that. And since there is quite a lot of rain expected today, I am glad they got it as far as they did.

The changes are starting to get less visible and less impactful, but the progress is still being made. Finally, we have stairs going to the second floor! No more climbing ladders for me!!! We arrived yesterday to find the roof covered in tar paper, ready for shingles. And about half of the walls are covered with an insulating wrap. We attempted a few more drone shots, something we need to practice more.

The entire roof is covered now — and what a difference! Rooms are starting to feel like regular rooms, not mansion sized rooms! There is a bit more plywood needed for the sides of the house and garage but they are really close to done. I think tar/shingles might be next, or foam insulation boards around the house. And stairs going to second level — all this time that has not gotten done!

This house is finally taking shape! You can have walls, floors, rooms — but it’s not until the roof goes on that you get the sense of what the whole thing will look like. I mean, we saw it on paper, and I even built a model, but that’s still not close enough. Driving up the driveway and seeing the trusses on the house? That’s the real deal! So many roof lines! Such tall peaks! It looks huge from pictures — you should see it in person!!! But in reality, other than the taller ceilings and the second story, this house is the same size as the house we are in right now. But getting that partial second story gave this house character, and gave us the master suite of our dreams. I cannot wait to move in!!! (I also can’t wait for the crane lift to leave here so not all my pictures have machinery in them!)

Progress is still moving right along! Drove out tonight to find that they had put up the walls for the second story. It’s a partial upper level, so what you see is all that will be put up. There will be stairs going to a sitting room, then the bedroom is beyond that. Then there’s a master bathroom and a closet beyond that. There will be a balcony off the sitting room, too. We did find one issue, though. The county commissioner had made us change the plans so that the sitting room couldn’t be considered its own bedroom. So we took out the wall that had separated that from the bedroom. However, the framers have that wall in place so we sent an email off to the builders to ask about it. Turns out, they had the old plans! Glad we asked!

The builders arrived to start work bright and early on Monday, even with all the snow still on the ground! They got the floor joists for the second story installed, and some plywood on part of it as well. I’m betting we will see trusses going on soon! I’m also hoping they get the stairs built going up to that second level so I can go up and see those views! Darren braved the ladder and got a couple of shots for me 🙂

5-7″ of snow fell on Thursday and Friday, so of course we had to run out on Saturday to see what the house looked like. My prayer is that we never see that much snow inside the house again! We took a couple of hours and shoveled/scraped/swept out as much as we could, hoping that helps the wood dry faster so the builders can get back out there. And yes, we struggled a bit on the driveway — the ice that fell before the snow was thick on that first hill and it took a couple of tries and a lot of momentum to get the Jeep up the hill. That doesn’t really scare me — we can park at the bottom and walk up if we need to. And of course, we are planning to have a tractor by the time next winter gets here so we’ll have a plow. However, a winch might be in my near future!

The framers didn’t get too far into the second level on the house, but we did get to see one place where the roof will sit. They did finish framing the garage, and started putting up plywood for the outer walls. It looks so weird without windows! I know those will get cut out but it sure changes the look. Mother Nature is putting a halt on this build for a bit, though. Not sure if the builders will even go out at all the rest of this week — snow and ice are coming.

The framers have almost every wall erected on the main level now — all that’s lacking is one wall of the office, and the last part of the back wall in the living room. They even got started on the garage walls! It is so cool to walk from the garage into what will be the lockers (mud room), past the main level bathroom, into the kitchen and next to the pantry. The rooms seem to be the right sizes — nothing too extravagant but not tiny either. Well, extravagant is yet to come — the living room will have very high ceilings, so it might feel that way! We shall see!