Nothing like a weekend of bitter cold to make a bright blue sunny day in the low 50s seem like a balmy reprieve. It was a great day for working, although I work best at doing a lot of watching. This evening's blog posting is about where things are at the almost halfway mark in this renovation and addition project. In the picture to the right, you can see a grand sweeping view of the whole property. (I guess there are some advantages in having a city parking deck across from the house...I can get some good pictures of the whole house from the top level.) For those who've never seen the house except from pictures on the web, I bet this really conveys the urban/city/downtown location I'm in. The road behind the house is a pretty busy north-south route, and those new condos beyond the house are supposed to be just the start of a much larger multi-unit development called West End Village. (Their website does not seem to be functioning at latest check, but perhaps eventually you can see more by clicking on westendvill.com.)
These next two shots give you a bit more close-up view of the final stage of replacing the roof: the front portions. Robert and Larry, from Pete's crew, spent all day up there and should finish up on Friday. Trey has been faithfully climbing the ladder with packs of shingles slung over his shoulder, and given that I moved two pallets of those shingles myself on Christmas Day, I know how heavy they are.
By the way, isn't it interesting to see how white the house looks from a distance, and how yellow it seems close up? We just tried to match the paint that was already on the house, but the new coat sure brings out a lemony glow that I might not have intended. Still, Pete and his crew made it look mighty good, don't you think?Pete and I were talking the other day, and he referred to the lull it might seem like we're in right now. It is sort of a transition phase, where some major things lack a few details to be solidly completed, and a lot of small-fry stuff needs to happen that won't seem all that remarkable or dramatic. The plumbing is all roughed in and the City inspector came by to sign off on it. Alas, he wanted the vent pipes to be secured better than they were, and a bit more caulking and sealing around some of the cuts in the stud work in the walls, none of which is too big a deal. Pete is hoping the masons can come build out the fireplace early next week so he can call in the framing inspection. He's had the guys do the trim around all the windows, including their top flashing... It looks good, as does all his work, and it just takes time to do all that stuff. So we're moving forward.
The kitchen window at the sink arrived and has been put in place:
Most of the preparatory trim work has been done on the huge window that will go up in the new rear gable.
Sam Binkley, the architect whose fine design Pete is bringing to life, stopped by on his lunch break today, and somehow managed while talking with Pete to strike this particular pose, right when I was snapping a shot of them. He wasn't demonstrating a poor man's Macarena, nor was he in the midst of doing The Time Warp. But I guess we'll let this photo of him remain until he stops by again and I have a chance at a friendlier photo of him.
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