Electrical Work Done

Electrician came up this week and knocked out all the electrical add ons and re-routing. Furnace is now working and keeping things warm which is very nice. Tomorrow the insulation company should make it up and fill up the attic and new addition walls, as well as the crawl space and foundation. Should be a big improvement over the very little insulation that is in the home now. Pics to come, soon as I make it up there again. Might be a few weeks with a baby due any day and Christmas next week.

Early December Progress

We installed windows on the addition this weekend. Well, most of them. We ordered 1 too few and one of them that we did get is the wrong size. So we're going to have to wait on two more windows to be built before we can finish up. Here are some pictures of the recent improvements.

Here are the new water heaters just installed. I had planned to do inline tankless water heaters, but the plumber suggested electric because they are the least maintenance and less expensive. Since I won't be living in this home full time he thought we'd be a lot happier with the low maintenance of these. I hope he is right.

Hall bath tub. My wife didn't want a 6' long tub, so we opted for this deeper 5 and we'll build a bench at the end. Hope it turns out. Had to put a window in there so you can look into the trees while you have a shower. I wish i had a before and after pic of this bathroom. It was very small. You can see the holes in the floor where the old toilet and shower plumbing was. The vanity was where the clothes hanger is there. Just really tight. This new bathroom will feel very roomy in comparison.

My bro trying out the master bath. I'm wishing those windows were about 6" lower, but no going back now. It will be nice, the shower on the other side of the room will have similar views.

And finally the new master bath addition. We're getting there, but we still have a long way to go.

November Update

This is why it is nice to have one sub out before another comes in. The framer had not finished the chimney completely so the heating guy left parts for how high he thought the chimney would be. He's a little short and snow is on the way so i had to temporarily cover the top to keep it dry until I can get the heating guy back.

Only the framer and I can really appreciate this photo. I had a few broken trusses caused by really heavy snow load and poorly assembled trusses. Phil jacked up the bottom chords of the trusses on the inside and fixed them according to an engineer friends specifications. The ridge sag is now gone, and the ceiling sag inside is gone as well. What a relief.

New East side addtions sans windows. I'm still waiting on the windows to be finished, but the addition is all ready for them.



I was pleased with how concerned Phil was about keeping my existing trees. They are one of the reasons I love this property. This aspen is within a foot of the new addition, but was not disturbed.
Photo of the East side addition soffit and fascia - built ot match the existing structure.

And finally the west side addition. Soon we'll have a large 5'x5' window next to that chimney and more on the other side to take advantage of the view. Shown in the photo below.

Fireplace and Furnace

Fireplace installed for master bedroom/ bath finally. Hard to visualize what it will look like, but soon we'll have some nice view windows and a tub in here. Looks like they framed the platform a little small for the fireplace, but we'll be putting in a platform for the tub anyway so it will all be good in the end.

Variable speed furnace installed in the crawl space. Looks like our roomy crawlspace is a little tighter now. It will be nice to have the other heating option.

October Update

Made it up to the house yesterday to check on the progress and do a little final demo and removal of the old, worn out, water damaged, smelly or otherwise useless junk. Here are some photos of the progress. Still looks like a cube of butter with a roof doesn't it?

Sorry for the blurry pic, all i had was my camera and sorry Google, but the camera on the G1 is pretty lousy. Ironically this remote spot is one of the few places that i get good reception in WY which is great for me.

West side addition, windows to be cut out soon. This is a new master bathroom addition which will have some great views from the tub and shower.

Front view, it was kind of a muddy mess up there.

Another master bath add on view. The windows in this room were unfortunately framed incorrectly and will have to be re-done. Glad I checked it out before ordering windows.

East end addition which is making a much better layout possible on this end of the home. Doubles the side of the guest bath and creates a 4th room out of some dead space.

Another view of the east end, getting closed in that day.

Old fireplace and aweful hearth removed. Looks like the original builder had some combustible material a little too close there... glad i tore this open and lucky for the old owner his house didn't burn down.

Kitchen completely dismantled and hauled away. I think that soffit will have to go as well.

My accomplice for the day, resting after loading the trailer full of stuff.

Windows - Aluminum Clad Wood or Vinyl

I've built several homes over the years and have always used vinyl windows for two main reasons - they are cheaper than wood, and they cost less. And when it comes down to it, you can see out both windows just the same.

Recently while planning the remodel of the Wyoming House I have been surprised at the cost of vinyl windows. I must have gotten some great deals on windows when I was in the business or prices have gone up quite a bit. I got a quote from several places this last week and just for fun had Weathershield price out some aluminum clad windows for me as well. I was surprised at the cost comparison.

Why would I even consider the aluminum clad for this home? Well I plan to put in some nice big sliding doors to maximize the view. I don't want to go with vinyl sliding doors because I just don't love the look and most that I have seen are not great quality. I want a dark color frame on the doors and the only way to get that was to go with aluminum clad. Since Weathershield has a showroom and manufacturing facility right here in town I decided to swing by and check out the doors that they had available. I really liked their wood/aluminum sliders so I think that is what I am going to get. But, of course I think it would look nicer to have the windows match the doors since they will be on the same wall plane - so, I priced out the aluminum as well.

After comparing prices, the middle range vinyl is pretty close to aluminum clad, so I'm leaning towards the clad. I need to swing by the showroom and check them out again.

Why-oming?

Because we're right in the middle of this.

Labor Day Progress

The latest progress on the additions. Hopefully the trusses will come in next week and we'll be able to get this closed up for the upcoming winter. While tearing apart the gable end on the east side, Phil found a nest in the attic. Looks like something larger than a rodent, maybe racoons? I need to figure out how they are getting up there and put a stop to it.

Questioning Myself

Sometimes i wonder what the heck i am doing. Yeah I said heck.. what can i say i'm from Utah. If i stop to think about this project I have in WY it's a little overwhelming. Its about 2 hrs form home so working on it requires planning. For 2 yrs now I have owned the place and other than the foundation repair (which honestly is a huge improvement) mostly all I have done is tear things apart. To be fair, my daughter went through another round of chemo and a bone marrow transplant when cancer came back - that pretty much put a halt to any plans whatsoever. I really need to start getting into the rebuilding stage so that sometime soon I can actually use this place that I am paying for.

Getting Warmer

It finally arrived - Our Morso 2040 Stove. This stove has been discontinued but they happened to have just a few left so I snagged one at a deep discount. Discounts are always good. Just need to get my pipe prepped for the new stove, lay a bit of tile or masonry of some kind for it to sit on and we'll be good to go.

Quick Trip

Yesterday I took a quick trip up to WY to check on the progress of the place and meet up with Phil, the contractor helping me out with this part of the project. He was up earlier in the week and touched up the grade around the home. It had settled quite a bit from the recent foundation replacement so it needed some work. Looks great now and he is now hooking up the power, sewer and water lines.

We're considering installing a valve to flush the water out after use so that in the winter months we won't have any water in the home at all. I have a shut off valve up by the well and another by the home just before it enters the house. Hopefully this will eliminate any potential water damage.

I'm about done with the deck design and hopefully next week we'll get some deck footing holes dug and the framing of the two small additions will begin.

August

Finally some progress on the place. We removed all of the old seventies cabinets with wallpapered insides. They are still usable, we just don't want to use them. I plan to run an ad in the paper in the local community to see if anyone can use them. There are several cabinets that might be nice to use in the garage for misc tools and such so I may bring some home.

While removing the cabinets we found why the previous owner had a water problem in the kitchen. The water line for the dishwasher had been severed and to plug it up, someone had jambed some wood in the end of the tube and wrapped it with electrical tape. Not the right fix for a water line that has water in it.

We also have removed the old woodburning stove which my contractor has found a home for. Good to see some of the old stuff being used. The stove is actually in near new condition, but it's very large and does not coordinate with the style we're shooting for.

Finally: Some Progress

It's been a long time since any work was done on the Wyoming House. Last fall the house movers lowered the home but would not remove their 60' beams for fear of rolling their equipment on the steep grade since the ground was covered in a bit of snow and muddy. Unfortunately, if we framed up the additions, the house movers would not have enough room to get the beams at the right angle to pull them out on the slope. So, much to our dismay we had to just cover the additions to keep the snow and critters out and leave it until spring.

This spring was incredibly wet [lots of rain for weeks] which delayed things even more. I stopped by in June and there was still about 12" of snow at the gate. and all the rain made it very muddy and not great conditions for heavy equipment. Finally we have had a dry spell and I was able to get the house movers back this Saturday to retreive their large beams. They scarred a couple of trees getting them out, but with so many there to work around I'm just pleased they didn't have to cut any down to get them out of the way.

Now, if we can get the framing done, plumbing and electrical hooked back up and a fireplace installed we'll at least be able to keep the place heated and work on it through the fall as it starts to get cold.

Stain or not to Stain

Been talking to my brother about building some custom doors for this wyoming house. Thinking about going with alder or maybe a harder wood and staining them. I'm just wondering where to draw the line. If i stain the doors, do i stain the jambs? If I stain the jambs then I probably should stain the trim. And then if I stain the doors, jambs, trim and have hardwood throughout the place, maybe I'm getting too much stained wood. I'm leaning towards staining the doors and painting all the trim.

Sping anytime soon?

Thought I'd post some pics of the wyoming house from this weekend. Still a ton of snow up there. We had to snowshoe in, and as you can see the snow banks are pretty high. Hopefully it will warm up here soon so we can get in the drive and start work again.

Spring is slow.

Just snowshoed into the house today. Still quite a bit of snow - maybe 3 feet on the drive in. Took some measurements for doors. My brother offered to custom build some doors for me so I figured I'd figure out what I need. Love the views up there. Somedays I wish I could just move there full time...

winter blues

gosh i miss this place. Winter set in and covered everything up. I was able to make it up in February to shovel off the snow accumulation on the roof but have not been back since. I'm anxious to get working on it again and finish up the remodel. Hopefully by fall we'll have a functional, finished home in Wyo. I've had the remodel on my mind for some time. I don't like have such a big project unfinished.

Before I mentioned possibly using some square door knobs on this project, but I'm now debating some clean and simple door levers. Check these out:

Pretty cool looking lever for a modern style home. I'm hoping to get this home out of the 70's and give it some modern coolness. We'll see how it turns out.