Slippery When Wet

Spring in the Northwest can be a crapshoot: clear and warm one day, raining and hailing the next. Or storming in the morning and beautiful all afternoon. It keeps Ed on his toes. Every time he gets his tools out he has to guess how much time he'll get to spend actually using them.
     Last week he and Rick started putting the plywood down for the second story subflooring. Every time they began working, it started to rain and they had to stop. Safety is paramount, and the sheets of plywood get really slippery when wet.

After stopping and starting several times, they finally got the plywood down for the whole second floor.

After that, they moved the lumber that will be used to frame the north and south walls  up to the second story subflooring.

Finally Ed took a minute to catch his breath and take a picture of what the view will be from the second story balcony. It will be stunning!







Now that the second story subfloor is down, the downstairs has a whole different look..well, sort of.  It's still soaking wet. The rain drips through the upper subflooring onto the downstairs subflooring, then seeps through into the basement, where it has to be swept out. This is not Ed's favorite chore.Once the roof is actually on and shingled, we won't have this problem, but until then, it is a real sore spot.
The ladder is in the middle of my kitchen, and behind it and to the left.

 Today after telling Rick to stay home because of rain, it stopped after 3:00 p.m., Ed finished his layout for the upstairs eyebrow dormer and cut out the header for that window. If it;s not too slippery and wet tomorrow, he will try to get some second floor walls up.

There's No Place Like Home

I've been in California for over a month, helping take care of Mom, and Ed has been at home working on the house and taking care of the animals. He's been making great progress. Ed has been sending me pictures as he goes, but it's just not the same as being there and watching it go up. Needless to say, I miss being home, but am grateful for the opportunity to help Mom.

When Ed and I came home from Hawaii the first part of March, he went to work on the framing. Once he got the perimeter walls framed, he framed up the load bearing interior walls. I was surprised how fast it went up.
Then he and the neighbor, Rick, began hanging the plywood shearing on the outside. Suddenly the house has become tangible. Ed says at this point the house looks like a hacienda, which isn't what it's going to look like when it's done.

After the plywood was up around the perimeter, Ed and Rick started putting up the gluelams. Some of them were small enough that they could lift them and put them in place with the tractor.

Then came the Big-Boy gluelam. This required help from neighbors. So Ed went down the road, and recruited as much help as he could find on a Sunday afternoon and got that monster up. It wasn't easy but they were able to manage it without anybody getting hurt.

At this point Ed needed to frame in the stairwell before putting on the floor joists for the second floor. There will be a small run of stairs to a landing. At the landing will be a little bench, then another run of stairs to the second story. There will be a little window at the landing that may be just perfect for a stained glass panel.

Finally the floor joists started going in for the second story. Ed says the view from the second story is going to be spectacular. I can hardly wait for the plywood to go down over the floor joists. We can put a couple of patio chairs up there, climb the ladder with an adult beverage and imagine it all finished....as soon as I get home.

Kaiser Permanente-Survive..er..Thrive

   Sometimes Life's road is uphill. This time it is not only uphill but full of switchbacks and rockslides. I've been out of state for the last six weeks helping my sister take care of Mom. At 88, Mom is usually an energetic, independent woman. With one misdiagnoses after another, she has been through a very tough time. We hope to get her home this week and back on her very busy two feet.
   Ed has been home working on the project as the weather allows and has made amazing progress. As soon as time and energy allows, I'll  post an update..hopefully later this week. Thank you, everyone for your prayers and patience.