Thursday, January 24, 2008

I'm standing north and pointing the camera south, with the street to the right and the lake to the left. Oh yeah!! That master bedroom/bath suite is going to be a beauty, don't you think?!! This amazing crew has already cleared the ground and poured the foundation for it. Roof on new portions will go on next week they say when the weather warms up a bit. We've ordered our corner Acryline tub with air health jets and I can't wait to climb in!! David has met with the HVAC guy to discuss the finer points of radiant heat vs. radiators in the bedroom. I'll let him tell you more about that. Hopefully the subject of a future post.

Monday, January 21, 2008

More renovation photos




Just couldn't resist posting some more pix. And how about that guest suite back there?! With the rest of the concrete poured you can really start to get the feel of it now. The guest suite bathroom's going in that back corner, behind the stairs that come down from the great room. Pretty cool, huh? We're trying to recycle the things from the original master bathroom so the Fowler Lake guests reading this might just recognize a few things when they next stay with us. And you know you're in full blown project mode when the contractor sets up the port-o-potty!

Master Bedroom Suite takes shape

More exciting stuff! The big digger thing was at it last week digging through the shale outside the master bedroom expansion. It was cool to see the machine at work tearing through the rock with it's big metal hook.

With any luck they'll get to a point this week when they can pour the concrete for this section but we've hit a cold snap so we'll have to see. David met with Tom on Saturday to talk about landscaping - the excavator can replace the dirt wherever we want it to even out the lawn. It's unbelievable to me that this project just started a few weeks ago and we're already talking landscaping. Today we have to buzz out to the bath store to pick a nice deep two person tub for the master bath. Yippee!!

Tuesday, January 15, 2008

The beginnings of Walls!!!



This is quite the crew!!! Despite the fact that it's been snowing all day long again, they've been out there doing their thing.....walls starting to take shape, framing out of the new sections, more concrete pouring as the flakes fall! Jim wears his layers and says the cold doesn't bother him but he is hoping for another better weather spell in the not too distant future. David had a long chat with him about heating and cooling which he'll expound on later but I wanted to get some of these new photos posted so you all can see the amazing progress. We feel very lucky that we've got this contractor and his crew after all the war stories we've heard from others who have been through major renovations. It's all meant to be. The universe is delivering for us in a big way!

Sunday, January 13, 2008

Concrete Pouring!


The concrete footings have been poured, the roof shingles removed, and the west wall prepared for demolition. David got home Friday late so we didn't get over there until Saturday but wow wow wow! It's cool too that our neighbor Steve is working on the project....have I said yet how small a world this is up here in Columbia County? Our Fowler Lake Road neighbors say the guys were there early all week which is how so much is getting accomplished of course. So far so good on tracking to estimated timings. Plans signed and approved when Jim said they would be, excavation begun right on time, concrete poured on the day they planned. With any luck this is indicative of how the whole project will go! Cold weather moves back in this weekend so we'll see what that does to the progress but I've got great confidence in the guys! I'm furiously reading up on kitchens, bathrooms, applicances, renovating tips, because it won't be long until the myriad of decisions will have to be made on all of that stuff. What a year this is going to be!

Wednesday, January 09, 2008

Major excavation today!



Well I got over there just before sunset today and continue to be amazed at how much they're getting done! Can't you just see that walk out guest suite/office basement back there?! And how about that view?! They've dug out the huge septic tank which will be moved and reburied and put some sort of house-wrap up. (How they did that on this windy windy day - now THOSE might have been some good photos!) It's so exciting to see this all unfold before our very eyes - and with the weather cooperating things are moving quickly. There was a glitch with the lumber they ordered for framing so concrete might not get poured tomorrow but at least the excavator isn't hitting any big patches of rock they can't handle yet. I'm off to Chicago tomorrow and David's in Boston so no more pictures until the weekend. At this pace, it might be ready for us to move back in by then! :-)

Tuesday, January 08, 2008

The Digging Has Begun!



Oh my gosh!! This is only the second week of the project and so much has been done already! The whole house is cleared out inside - floor boards, bathroom fixtures, doors and insulation preserved for use in the new part - decking, siding and sheet rock removed - and best of all the digging has begun! Right around Christmas we had a couple big storms that dumped lots of snow but rather than that hurting our project, it helped protect the ground from freezing making excavation possible. This week we are having a winter heat wave - 60 degrees and counting - so that has made things even easier. Our excavator thinks we'll be ready to pour concrete starting Thursday. The guys are great - very respectful and dedicated - most of them local to Ghent - and our GC, Jim, calls in almost every day with an update. As frustrating as the delays have been, all of this was of course meant to be and Jim thinks we'll be back in by July. Soon we'll have to start making all the endless decisions - counters and tiles and floors and cabinets and appliances and lighting and and and. .... but for now we're revelling in the fact that it has all started and there's an end in sight.