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.