The Heat Continues

With the scorching heat hitting again for the second day,the work on the house was ground to a hault.Okay, it wasn't totally ground to a hault,but no work was done in the afternoon.Can't say I really blame them.

We had the masonary guys back putting in some type of pillars in the basement,I am guessing for extra support.Lets take a look..... 

So here you can see what the masonary guys did this morning.Again I really can't explain what this is actaully about.I think from what our contractor told me,it had something to do with extra support.That's the problem with me, is I don't ask questions.He explained it,I didn't get it and of course I didn't ask.I probably just nodded like I knew what the hell he was trying to explain to me.

And here is another one of those support pillars or what I can only guess is a support pillar. 

Other than that they finished pouring the concrete for that form under our sons existing bedroom.I would show you the picture but for some reason it won't upload,so we will just move on.

I think the heat is going to continue tomorrow with some rain possible, so I don't know what or if anything will get done tomorrow. 

I guess we will find out!

Day 36 Homeless And Counting

Well the construction carried on despite what was the hottest of the summer by far!And they were shoveling most of the day filling in that hole they dug to fix that footing,not the most ideal day for doing that.

Ok,so we are on day 36 of being out of our home and have now shacked up with my parents.I have been living with them for a few weeks already,while my wife and my two sons were living with her mother.Now this past week-end I made the six hour trek,picked up the family and now we are all shacked up with my parents.The only question is for how long??

Anyway here is what happened today and Friday as well because I didn't post then(out of town)..

The stairs to the new basement were actually built on Friday.Now the stairs are in and the one side of the wall were I was taking the picture from is framed in. 

What they are doing here is pouring cement under this part of the house which is our sons old bedroom,adding some more support since it was built on just a concrete slab.It was dug out today and now they just need to pour the cement in and let it dry.Also the door there, our contractor told me today he was going to move over,so it looks aesthetically correct.When you spend a lot of money you want things to at least look good! 



That was all the action today and it doesn't look like much but, all these small little jobs that need to get done are the most time consuming.

I talked with our contractor today at lunch and he told me the widows and siding are in at Home Hardware.He didn't want to have all that over here sitting in the yard where they could get damaged or stolen,which we know could happen! We have seen lumber go missing from here and I can't imagine having nice new windows just sitting here ready for the taking. 

There you have it!

Until tomorrow,keep cool!
                                                                         
                                                                                                       

The Big 50

No I am not turning fifty,lets clear that up right away.I do however feel like it sometimes.It is though the fiftieth post on the blog, which I thought was pretty cool.When I first started the blog I actually didn't think I would get to this point,I figured I would have bailed on this awhile ago!

That's just the way I usually roll!!Start something and then bail!

But I have surprised myself and it has actually been a lot of fun posting the pictures and talking about what's going on with the house.And of course the occasional rant,what every blog needs to be complete.

Anyway lets get on with the reason you are even here.......pictures....

         
What we have here is a retaining wall and what they have done is poured cement behind the wall to fix that footing and add extra support.The wall will be taken down obviously when the cement has dried.

Here is just a picture of the cement behind the wall.Again this was done to fix that footing that did not extend all the way over on the old part.We still have no idea why they would not have put the footing all the way across.Of course back in the old days when the house was built, they probably didn't think about support issues in the future.Back in those days as well, you had friends and family build houses, so it wasn't like it was done by a professional contractor.Keep in mind too back then there was no building codes or inspectors or anything like that,so there was no worries about stuff like proper footings and such.

This is just another view of the hole.It goes down pretty deep as you can see.I still don't know what this would have to do with tearing up the driveway?

That is all on the construction part.As for the furnace guys,they were supposed to be in this week but I am thinking that our contractor told them to hold off.I think he probably wanted to get this footing issue fixed first and then bust that wall out in the old part of the basement,before the furnace guys come in.

As for tomorrow,I am not too sure if they are done with the footing or not and ready to move on to something else?And if they are ready to move on I am not too sure what the next step is.

I guess we will see!

                  
                                                                                                  

What Happened Yesterday....Today

Since I didn't do a post yesterday(social commitments), you are probably wondering what went at the house.Well what happened is I came home from work at lunch to find we had no driveway anymore.

Yes, the driveway is gone,there is the picture to prove it.As I have not had a chance to talk to our contractor, I am really not too sure why this was done?? That is going to be really messy when it rains.We had no plans or funds for that matter to put in a driveway.And we can't leave it like that because it slopes down(can't tell from the picture) and one good rain and our poor little car would be stuck!!I don't what we are going to do about his?And if our contractor has plans for this then it becomes an extra expense we didn't budget for.In the times we talked to him he never once mentioned anything about the driveway ending up in this state.Oh ya have to love all the surprises that home renovations bring!!

Now I know there was an issue with the footing not not extending all the way across.What I didn't know is it would result in the driveway being tore up. I was shocked to come home and see that. 

There you can see where the breezeway use to be.And now there is a hole there!This is turning into a real mess let me tell you.I am not too sure what I was expecting when we decided to do the addition, but this is not what I had in mind.Oh well it needs to be done!

That was everything from yesterday and they also finished shingling the roof.Our contractor worked until 6:30pm yesterday which I thought was great!

Until today when I came home from lunch to find out that only the new kid has been there today.

No sign of our contractor! No wonder he worked late yesterday! Next time he works late I am going to be suspicious.

I just hope he is not going to start bouncing from job to job again!

I will keep you posted.

The Depths Of The Basement....... Part 2 And Some Other Stuff!!

I am going to jump right into it with some before and after pictures.....

      

This is a picture of part of the basement before....

Here is a picture after my mom and I took that shelving down tonight.Looks a lot better and more roomy.

Before.

After.

   

Before.

After.

Before.

After.Much to the dislike of our neighbours I am sure,this concrete was jack hammered out at about 7:30am....yikes!!  

So there was all of the action that took place today.They did get the chimney down and some of the roof shingled.They don't have too much left to shingle on that old part of the roof so I am thinking they should be done tomorrow.

That's all I have for now..... plus I need some sleep!! So I am going to end this post.

Until tomorrow!

                                                                                         

A Video Post

I thought I would post a video of the inside of the house, just to give you a look at it.Even though I put up as many pictures as I can,sometimes I find it hard even when I look at the pictures to see just how it's all coming together.You don't get a real feel for it I find,that is why I thought I would do the video.Hope you enjoy!

Never Give Up Hope

Just when things were looking bad as far as the floor getting poured this week was concerned,guess who showed up today about 10am?

Yes, the cement guy finally showed up!Talk about cutting it close.We have the furnace guys coming in next week and that floor needed to get poured.And it did, thankfully!The cement guy arrived about 10am and was there for a little over an hour.

Here is a picture of the floor a few hours after it was poured.Now it's starting to look like a basement.I took three pictures and this was the one that had the least amount of sun glow in it.

The days events were pretty much dedicated to getting the basement floor poured and leveled off.This meant that the one side of the old part of our roof was not finished today.Not that this is a big deal,I was more concerned about the floor in the basement getting poured than anything else.

That brings you up to date on the house renovation's for the day and the week as well.Next week we have the furnance guys coming in and the rest of the roof to be shingled,after that who knows.

Until next time!!

   

                                                                               

This Is What $300 Million Will Buy You!

The Roof Still Continues

With the weather providing another great day for roofing(not too hot) the guys continued to finish up on the roof.

You can see here they are in the process of taking out this chimney from the old fire place.We will be glad when it's gone because all it was good for was leaking!!

Here you can see the top of that chimney has be cut off.The tarp on the roof,well I am not sure why that's there?This is the first time it has made an appearance on the roof,so I am not too sure what that's all about.

The roof is starting to look like a roof.The shingles look good and I am getting excited to see what the house will look like with new siding and windows!!

The concrete guys were supposed to be here this week,well it's not looking so good as of now.I don't know what the hold up could be and I am really hoping they show up......soon!!Our contractor told us to call the furnace guys to come in next week and do their thing because the floor was supposed to be poured this week.

Of course the week is not over so I will still hold out hope.Not very much mind you!

Ok that brings you up to speed on the house front for now.

Until tomorrow!

The Roof Continues

With another cool day here, they continued their work on the roof.It is now starting to come together and it's nice to see those crappy shingles gone! Woo Hoo!!

Of course I did take some pictures, but the only thing with them doing work on the roof, it's hard to get a real good picture.I just can't get a close up shot unless I climb up on the roof.

Which I might do!

The things I would do for you guys!!

Remember it's all about the pictures and here are some now......

Like I said it's hard to see the colour of the shingles,I tried to zoom in but I couldn't get a good shot.Those boards there are so they don't slip off the roof.It's not some fancy roof design or anything like that.

I took this picture from across the road at my parents house.I wanted to get all of the roof in there and that's hard to do when your close up.So I moved back and there you go.You can see they almost have the one side done.They do have the new roof all shingled,I just can't get a picture of it because there is nowhere to stand on the other side of the house.

With that you are all caught up on the action.The other guy that normally works with our contractor was not there today,so it was only him and the new guy.What happened to the other guy? I have no idea.I know the last time he was not here for a few days he was working on another job with somebody else,so who knows.

You can see that big bin there which you would think was being filled,but it's not.There is actually only a few pieces of plastic in there and that's it.I don't know if it is there so when they are done shingling the roof, they can start taking the old siding off right away?This would be nice since I can't stand to look at that siding anymore either!

I was told last week by our contractor that they were coming to pour the floor in the basement, today actually.Of course there was no sign of any concrete truck anywhere.Hopefully it gets poured before the week-end, because I am pretty sure we have the furnace guys coming in next week sometime and they need that floor in,so they can do their thing.If they show up here and there is no floor in, I am not too sure what will happen? Let's hope it doesn't come to that. 

With that being said I will end the post on that note!!

                                                                                                          
                                                                                                       

The Roof

With the heat backing off today, they started to shingle the new part of the roof.Our contractor hired a new guy since the kid he had working for him was gone to school and this new guy pretty much shingled the one part of the roof himself.Talk about breaking him in!!

Our contractor and the guy he usually works with took off before lunch to fix a hot water tank,so we (my brother was with me) were told by the new guy.My brother said to the new guy "I didn't know ****was a plumber"the new guy just kind of laughed.What my brother meant by that comment was, why the f**k isn't he here?? Obviously the new guy didn't get it,but I did!

Later in the afternoon our contractor did return, only him though.I don't know where the other guy was? Maybe he decided to just call it a day after their plumbing expedition?Who knows?But our contractor did help the new guy finish the one side of the roof,so at least that was done.

It's hard to tell from the picture but the shingles do look really good.I'm not biased or anything!!The colour of the shingles is driftwood in case you were wondering. 

I know you are thinking, there has got to be more,right?

Nope,that was the days events right there.

Hopefully tomorrow is just as cool as today was and they can get a little more done.They did get a big bin dropped off this morning, so I am thinking they have big things planned.As for the concrete that is supposed to be happening tomorrow.I guess we will see.

Until then!!

                                     

                                                                                          

A Story Post

Since it is Friday I figured I would tell you a story.Don't worry it's a interesting story,I think anyway?Hopefully you feel the same.

I want to take you back a few years,before my wife and I moved into the house we are now renovating.The house belonged to my mom and my uncle,so when my grandfather passed away they decided that they would rent the house out.Seemed like a good idea at the time you would think right?

They find some people to rent the house.So these people that moved(married couple) in were not the greatest tenants by any means.They did a lot of things to the house without asking my mom or uncle like,cutting a hole in the side of the garage for a door,using the fire place even though the chimney was not properly up to code and they painted the floor that hideous color(see last post).Now as bad as all that was, the worst part was they were either late with their rent or didn't pay it at all.This would earn them the name "rent free".Just so you know our neighbour is a cousin of theirs and doesn't think to much of them.She also said they have been booted from pretty much every place they have rented for the same reason.I think they still owe my mom and uncle a few hundred dollars.

So after all this my mom and uncle decided to give them the boot.In we move.

Let's fast forward to present day.

Of course with construction going on at the house there is lumber piled outside.Now we haven't thought too much of this lately until we noticed rent free has been driving by a lot.Pretty much everyday to be exact!!So my mom jokingly said to my dad that he is probably "shopping".Ahhh....

With this thought in mind my dad walks over to our contractor and asked him if he happened to be missing any lumber.And by this post you can probably guess what his answer was,but just in case you don't it was..............

YES!!!!

He tells my dad that he is missing some plywood and various other boards.Although we are no detectives around here it's not hard to put two and two together.

He has been driving around here everyday and lumber goes missing.I know when they were booted from the house we now live in they were not happy at all!!

We figure he was driving his truck in the laneway going through our backyard where we had taken the gate off the fence and taking the lumber that way.He knows nobody is home because my car is parked over here at my parents during the night.

You would think that would be it right?

Well it's not!! 

Guess who has the nerve to drive by our house today with a bunch of lumber piled in his truck!!!!!! 

My parents and I were standing there pretty much in shock thinking the f**cking nerve of you,you pr**k!!

Can you believe the that!!!!Who does that??

By they way it was plywood in the back of his truck,just so you don't think I am crazy.Unfortunatly for us to call the police we have to catch him in the act.So what we have done is marked some of the wood that he would have easy access too.And if it goes missing at least when we call the police, we can tell them to look for the marks we have put on the wood.We did put the gate back up on the fence so we are not sure if he will try it again because he would have to go through the driveway and risk being seen. 

Argh!! I was(still am) so pissed that I drove down the street he lives on early, but I don't know where his house is so I had to look for his truck, but I didn't see it.

That's all I am going to post for today since this has put me in a fowl mood!!I will post pictures tomorrow of the days events.

Wiring And Bunch Of Other Stuff........

Today was a productive day on all fronts.Most of the wiring is done,just a little bit left to finish up.I did help my brother with that,I pretty much just drilled holes that he needed.The first part of my day was spent in the old part of the house with my mom ripping out the rugs in the bedrooms.We also cleared out some more junk out of the basement.After that I started helping my brother with the wiring.So let's look at the pictures..

Here you can see all the wires everywhere or maybe you can't it's hard to tell in the picture.You can see the blue wires there for sure and my brother put in switches and plugs everywhere,which is good.

This would be a picture of what was at one time our breezeway.They ripped this down today and you can see on the roof that the tie in is almost done.The shingles were delivered today and they should be starting taking the old shingles off tomorrow sometime. 

No this is not some painting or anything like that,it is a floor believe it or not!My mom and I took the carpets, yes that is right I said carpets (there were two in our sons room) out.That is what we found underneath the carpet. This was done by the previous tenants(know to everybody in our family as rent-free) why they would do this I have no idea??
    


  

Here is our old master bedroom with the carpet removed.I should really say it was not a properly installed carpet because it was just pieces of a carpet thrown together.I had a friend who was putting new carpet in is house and we just used the pieces that he didn't use.Due to our lack of funds at the time it was the only choice we had.The things you do when you have no money.

Just another picture of our master bedroom which will be our son Sam's new room.

This picture I put on here for my wife, just to show her the mess that has become our living room.After seeing this picture aren't you glad you are still at your moms?? Just to let you know the rest of the house is in pretty much the same shape.....messy!! 

Today was a really productive day on all fronts.Everybody was working hard getting things done.I did give our contractor $25,000 so this hopefully should be enough for awhile.I also paid all the outstanding bills that we owed which makes me feel better, since it's been about two months these people have been waiting for their money.

There you have it all the days action.Now I have to get back to work and help my brother finish up the last bit of electrical.

Until tomorrow!

                                                                                  

The Tie In Continues

The work continued today despite the heat and I can just imagine how hot it would be working on the roof.Let's just jump into the pictures.....

You can see how they are bringing the new part togther with the old part.You can see the old part of the roof which is shingled and the new part of the roof which is the plywood.   

  Here we have the new roof resting on top of the old roof.As for the old part I am really not sure what is going to happen.I know the shingles will be removed and that is about the extent of my knowledge.We will just wait to see how this all comes together.                           

This is just the other side of the old and new roof coming together.It's weird when I walk into the new addition it's just boards everywhere and it's hard to try and picture our things in the rooms.What that has to do with the roof I have no idea??But looking at all those boards made me think of that,which then lead me to type that.....anyway......

Tomorrow,actually later today since it is after midnight,my brother will be starting the electrical and oh ya, apperently I am going to be his helper!!Does this make me nervous you ask? No...yes....no....well I guess just a little,not really sure how much help I will be but the learning experiance should be fun!

The bank did call today and we were approved for the next amount of money which is great.This couldn't have come at a better time since we are going to need money for electrical materials(a few hundred) and also we owe the electrician $600 from when the hydro stack was moved about 2 months ago.Throw in a bill from Home Hardware for about $220 just for good measure and you had me just about ready to burst into tears.

Lucky for me the bank called me at work with the good news, thus saving me from what was sure to be a mental meltdown, followed by a shower of tears right at work.

Not good.

With my fragile state it wouldn't take much to set me off.That probably would have done it.

Mental meltdown averted, I was told we were apporoved for another $32,580.Wow! This was more than we were expecting them to release,but that's good, now we can actually pay the people we owe!I am sure they will be happy.

So that concludes another day on the construction front and for me the fun really begins with my electrical debut later today! 

I'll let you know how it turns out....