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.

house back down.

Just in the nick of time the home was set back on it's foundation this fall. The snow hit and has been coming down ever since. Unfortunately, the house movers didn;t want to remove their 60' steel beams so we are unable to finish framing up the small addition - if we do, they won't be able to get the beams out. Sounds like setting the house back down was pretty uneventful. I was able to stop by soon after, but it was dark and I wasn't able to see much. I asked my brother to take a couple of pics on his way home and this is what he sent.

Modern Plans

This won't work where we are because of the floor plan we have, but it would be cool to remodel to a modern design like this home. Something about real clean lined modern urban design on a forested piece of land is appealing to me. As apposed to the so common cabin style home. Our floor plan is more cut up, but if I were starting from scratch, this would be a cool design with the expansive wall of windows to take in the view.

New Foundation

The new foundation is finally in and hopefully this week the house will be set back down on the new foundation and get buttoned up for the winter. When spring comes we'll begin working on the cosmetic type remodeling. Snow started falling soon as the foundation was poured so hopefully we'll have enough time to get it all framed back up and closed in. Replacing the foundation is going to be much nicer in the long run, but not as much fun as remodeling cosmetic things because with items like flooring and cabinets you can see immediate improvement on the property. Still, i'm excited about the new foundation.

Barn Door Hardware

I'm on the hunt for something a little different for the wyoming house. I found this barn door style hardware for couple of doorways where I'd like to save some space, but don't really want a pocket door. This sliding track is pretty cool, but not cheap. There must be a better deal to be had. Still, probably cheaper than tearing the wall out, buying pocket door hardware and reframing and finishing the walls.

You have to look at the overall expense when making decisions in construction. Building several homes over the years has taught me that a decision seemingly less expensive now, may not the most cost effective in the end.

Commercial Siding

I'm digging the siding on this place. I like the windows too, but I'm sure they are more expensive than I want to pay. The siding may be too since it's commercial, but I'd rather not have to paint a house over and over so I'm leaning towards some higher than residential quality siding. I just need to locate where i can purchase it.