When the workman is sick...

no work gets done! Dan, our main worker guy, was sick all of last week, so n-o-t-h-i-n-g happened. This week, so far, quite a bit has happened! Dan is feeling better, although not totally up to par, but he is improving everyday!

After all the siding was removed from the front of the house we could see the space in between the step and the house, and that reminded us of the fact that there is a mouse highway there into the basement.

It was then decided that the step had to go. Terry called the concrete people and they said they would come and take it out that same day, which was Monday (I think). In my mind I see some poor guy with a jackhammer, chipping away at that hideous step for hours. In fact, this is what really happened...

Yes, that is a jackhammer on the front of the bobcat.

And it didn't take long to break off the bottom step part, maybe 3 minutes.

There it is!

Load up the parts, 2 minutes.

Dump parts into trailer...

remove the rest of the step I have hated for 18 years all in one piece.

Total time, probably 10 minutes.

Here is what was under the step.

Lots of bees came out of somewhere, and buzzed around until RAID made an appearance, and a nice mouse nest was in there too!

Right before this happened the siding truck also arrived. So while this was going on the siding was being delivered - AT THE SAME TIME! Nothing for a week, and now pandemonium!

Well, not really, but it was fun to have 2 things going at once.

The front step area after clean up and re-building have taken place.

Next, 2 front windows!

Yesterday, Wednesday, was window day. It took Dan about an hour and 15 minutes to get this basement window removed. Here is the nice hole into the basement.

There was a lot of rotten wood, and some mold. After finishing that they moved on upstairs.

It took Dan and Terry most of the day to do these 2 windows, with all the fixing that was involved. Here it is at the end of yesterday afternoon.

This morning, Thursday. Dan sets up his stuff in the driveway to do the trim around the garage door.

He also got rid of the rotten stuff on the back side of the house where the deck used to be, here is the fresh new stuff in place!

Then the real fun began!

Here is the framing for the new concrete step.

They built the frame this morning, and I had to pick the color of the concrete, and the top coat color. I can't really remember the exact names now, but it looks like chocolate.

Bruce is filling in the whole form.

Chris takes this mixer thing which vibrates and makes the air come out of the concrete, so it is nice and smooth.

Then this skimmer thing really makes it nice.

Then it rained! And they built the step a little shelter.

Here is the smooth chocolate!

These are the forms, and he put this chalky color on them, which is the color wash to go on top of the chocolate concrete.

I really love that "dusty rose" color from the 80's when country decorating was totally in style!

Sprinkle that on the top of the chocolate.

First Chris uses this one to add the texture.

And then this one to make the marks that look like rocks.

Then a second one that fits into the first mold.

And when you can't move the molds around anymore you finish drawing it in by hand.

And voila! A pink step! OK, it won't actually stay pink.

Tomorrow the true color will be revealed! Stay tuned!

While I Was Away...

Charlie and I were gone last week. We went to Bemidji, MN, for Charlie to attend Band Camp at Bemidji State University.

Here is what happened at home while we were gone:

The new front door arrived, but isn't installed yet.

It took a whole crew of people to install the bow window:

Brent, Tom, Terry and Dan

Here it is installed, view from the outside.

View from the inside.

The garden window above the sink came out, notice the plywood nailed over the hole.

The roofers came...

and now our roof is green!

A little roof was built over the front door.

And the new kitchen window was installed.

This week I believe we will get more new windows, and possibly some siding.

Wake Up Call

Wednesday morning, 7am. I wake up and hear a noise. Is it the cat barfing? Listen again. No, not the cat. It is a tapping noise. Actually, more of a hammering noise. Get up, throw some clothes on, look outside, the concrete guys are here. Prepping the apron of the driveway for some new cement.

They put in a form on the end.

A little later in the day Dan and Terry put up the pump jacks. They can raise and lower themselves while they are on the scaffolding, which saves a lot of up and down ladders.

Dan is on the roof, and Terry is on the ground. When they get it in place Dan nails that wood piece to the roof. They set up 3 of these on the west side of the house.

And obviously it worked well, since Dan got some of the soffit done that day.

The concrete guys came back, and they fixed up the brick ledge, and a couple of holes that needed filling. They mixed this concrete by hand and did the filling. Then they left again.

They came back while I was gone, and poured the apron. I'm pretty sure they didn't mix all this by hand.

They will be back in a couple of week to do the stamped, colored concrete patio in the back and the sidewalk and patio area in the front. If you want to look at what they do here is their website

http://www.ahlbrechtmasonry.com/

It is a family owned business based in Jordan, MN.

After Dan finished the west side of the house he went to start on the north side.

On Thursday morning I woke up to the sound of a truck. The sliding glass door, living room window, and above the sink window have arrived.

Here they are sitting out next to the garage.

Friday morning. Woke up on my own! Woohoo!

Dan was here by 8am, and Terry shortly after that.

Here is the sliding door and living room window this morning.

The door was out quickly.

Then the rotten bottom was revealed. Don't you just hate a rotten bottom?

Actually is was a lot more rotten that this, as they removed more layers of wood.

At one point Dan thought he was going to replace all this rotted stuff from the inside, by going into the basement and putting the new wood in.

Then I took him downstairs, and he saw all the shelves with my snow village on it, and he decided to tackle it from the outside, which turned out to work just fine.

Here is the new door!

They also removed the living room window.

And started removing rotten stuff, and old shims, and whatever else it was they needed to remove.

Right now the window is covered with a big piece of plastic and a piece of plywood.

On Sunday, they are going to put the new bow window in. I call it a bay window, but Terry says that a bay window goes out a couple of feet while this one only goes out about 15 inches, so it is called a bow window. Construction lingo, you gotta love it!

I'm going to Bemidji for the week, so there may be a lapse in postings. If Mike takes pictures and emails them to me I may get them posted, otherwise check next weekend, and I'm hoping there will be a LOT of progress!