Framing Continues

As the rafter extensions continue around the house, hip roofs are being added to the two formerly flat-roofed patios.

The office rafter extensions are complete and most of the exterior has zip wall and Tyvek installed.  Areas like the office and rear wall were completely reframed, including sill plates.  The slab was cloroxed and scrubbed before putting on new sill plates.

We removed the existing fireplace and met with several AV specialists.  Since the living room has only 1 wall eligible for a TV, we were trying to fit a flatscreen over a new fireplace.  Ultimately this proved to be too much of a challenge and we decided to eliminate the fireplace altogether.  This will give us more interior space and an optimal TV viewing height.

After an amazing 14 inches of rain in 2 days the burn ban was lifted.  The yard was full of brush piles from continued pruning.

A masonry wall was added in the garage as the outside grade was dangerously close to the slab level.  This will be waterproofed on the exterior with MEL-ROL.

Big changes coming this week as we pour concrete to level the garage floor and pour footers for the addition.  Also we bring in a small excavator to regrade around the house and install drain pipes.

To the Studs!

Demolition took 8 working days.  One crew in the house and one crew outside removing the EIFS.  This is what the house looks like taking it down to the studs - windows gone, HVAC gone, insulation gone, everything.

On the back porch off the kitchen the wood planter box is gone.  Now we need a railing.

With the EIFS gutters removed, we had to scab on rafter extensions so the roof would overhang the house - you can see them if you click on this photo for a larger view and look closely.

There were several areas in the existing house with flat roof sections.  We are converting all flat roofs to pitched roofs.  In this photo you can see the rafters going over the bay window (formerly flat roof) around the master bath tub.

Here are Pappy and Skip installing the Hardie soffit and fascia board.

And finally a view from the front yard where you can see the new roofline begin to take shape:

Demolition Begins

We began demolition on Monday Aug 16th.  All exterior stucco and gypsum board is being removed, plus the integrated gutter system (below).

On the inside, we are taking it down to the studs.  Out goes the flooring, the cabinets, the light fixtures, sheetrock, old fireplace, insulation - everything.

Now that the walls are off, we can inspect the accumulated damage under 25 years of EIFS (synthetic stucco) exterior.  The damage is not as bad as expected - a few localized spots of water leaking under windows and from the integrated gutter system, and termites and carpenter ants feasting on those areas.  We encountered several active carpenter ant colonies but no active termites.  Here are the worst spots:

Framing begins next week - ripping out the rotten areas, reframing interior walls per architect's plans, and adding the upstairs bedrooms.  The Marvin Integrity casement windows and exterior doors have been ordered and should arrive end of next week.  (Oil rubbed bronze hardware, copper exterior, unfinished pine interior.)  After a hot day of demolition nothing feels better to the crew than a dip in Barton Creek behind the house.