Day 66-69

Remember how I wrote that the stucco would be finished on Thursday? Well, it’s Thursday. Guess what: the stucco’s not done. The good news is that Red started on the scratch coat today. He has about 1/3 of it done. It looks good so far.

The rewiring of the garage is done for the most part. They just need to put in a new electrical box. I imagine they’re not going to do that until the exterior is done so they can mount the meter properly. But honestly, I can’t figure out the rhyme and reason for the way a lot of things have been done, so I’m probably wrong.

The plumbers ran into a snag today. The plumbing vent no longer follows code. Since it’s grandfathered in that’s not a problem unless you have to replace a part of the vent. I think you know where I’m going with this. We have to replace the vent from the roof all the way down. It’s corroded through in several places. The plumber was surprised we didn’t have water damage. Considering how often we use the plumbing I wasn’t too surprised.

Our contractor, David, thinks City inspections will start next week. I won’t hold my breath. He’s not my favorite person in the world right now. Two weeks ago I was saying I’d definitely use him as our contractor when we turn the attic into a master bedroom, but the last few days has me thinking about telling him I’m not paying him for this week’s work. In my opinion he’s not doing his job. The electricians were knocking on our back door with question after question all week. Yes, I work at home, but how on earth do I know at what height I want an outlet. For one, the information should be on the electrical plans. And for another, it’s my contractor’s job to deal with those questions. I have a full-time job. I don’t need another one. Today is the first day that I’m aware of that David’s been here all week. Can you tell I’m a little irritated by him?

Day 59-65

We had rain the first part of last week, so things on the garage haven't progressed that much. The HVAC people came the last part of the week and installed the wiring and plumbing for the ductless heating and AC unit we're getting. The electricians were supposed to arrive Thursday or Friday but didn't.

As for stuccoing, Red said he would probably start on the scratch coat Monday (day 66). He thought if the weather held up he'd be done Thursday. That would be great because once the stuccoing is done the bottom of the garage can be finished (they don't want to do the bottom first because they don't want the stucco to get on any finished exterior work). In the photos you might be able to notice there's a wire mesh covering the Tyvek.




I asked our contractor when he thought the project would be completed. He told me to ask him in two weeks after the inspections start happening. He thinks the inspection will hold things up by at least another week or two, so the garage definitely won't be done in mid-September. I can hope for the end of September, but that might be wishful thinking.

Day 52-58

There hasn’t bee a lot of progress this past week. The fatty window arrived and was installed and we also have a new door to the second story.

Stuccoing was supposed to start, but didn’t. We saw Red again Saturday morning, bringing more scaffolding. According to Red, Lazaro and Arturo were supposed to have a metal lip put all the way around the second story, but so far it’s only on one side.

The good news is that the metal beams were removed. Junior Brown’s team showed up and had everything taken down in less than an hour.

I predict next week will hold a little more excitement (unless the rain holds things up).

Day 47-51

The garage is starting to look a lot different and we can see the beginning of the end. The windows started coming out and going in. It’s hard to say goodbye to the beauty of the old windows, but it’s really easy to say goodbye to their draftiness. So long curtains blowing on a cold winter’s day. Will I need my giant Uggs and electric blanket now that the windows and floor furnace are being replaced?

Dumpster news: On day 49 a truck arrived to pick it up. But guess what, the truck left without the dumpster because the driver said the dumpster was too heavy. Brad, David, and I watched him try to lift it, and as we did the truck’s front tires came off the ground a foot or more. An hour later another truck arrived. I watched from the kitchen as the driver maneuvered the truck so he could lift the dumpster. I don’t know how he did it, but the dumpster is officially gone!

Stuccoing of the second story begins tomorrow. The stucco guy, Red, brought his scaffolding over this weekend. I assume he won’t actually start applying stucco until the metal beams are out, but perhaps all of the weight from the second story is no longer supported by those beams and we don’t need to worry about cracking. As for those beams, Junior Brown will hopefully be back (from moving a house to Louisiana) this week to remove them. In the final photo you can see the new windows and the scaffolding that’s been set up.

Day 45-46

Except for the darn dumpster that seems to linger forever and ever, our positive energy for this project has been renewed! More on the evil dumpster later.

Days 45 and 46 were spent on demo on the second floor. It’s currently a messy construction site, but it already looks so much better. The walls have been opened up and that makes the place look almost twice as big. Seeing the work Lazaro and Arturo did make us happy, happy, happy! They are such hard workers and really know what they’re doing.

The following before and after photos show what you see when you enter the second story:

Now for the dumpster news. I called our contractor and said the dumpster had to go and that I was very unhappy we had been paying for a full dumpster for almost two weeks. My contractor said the dumpster was included in Manor Foster’s foundation/demo bid. I said that was a relief but that I’d been promised it would be moved for over a week now and that it was blocking the alley that I share with neighbors. Neighbors who would like to park their cars in their garages—especially since Tropical Storm Edouard would be bringing heavy wind and rain tonight. To make a long, annoying story short, the dumpster company said Manor owes them $1100. Manor said that’s bull. I fully expect that dumpster to be here through the week. I’m going to celebrate the day that thing is carted out of here!

Here's a panoramic of the second story (since I don't have a wide-angle lense I pieced a few photos together). Forgive my lacking Photoshop skills.

Day 41-44

On Day 41 the retaining wall was poured and more framing was done. David also called to let us know the windows would be in next week, but that he forgot one of the bedroom windows had to be sized so fat people could escape in a fire (his words, not mine). He’s going to order the bigger window and send the other one back. The dimension on that thing is insane! It’s something like five feet by three feet. I’m sorry, but if you’re between three and five feet wide, good luck getting out of any window on the second story.

On Day 42 the concrete crew came back yet again (I’m so ready for them to be gone). They put stucco on the new retaining wall and cleaned up a bit. They’ll be back next week because they need to run new cable to replace the cable they cut.

David let us know that Junior Brown (the guy who raised the second story) is on vacation and won’t be able to get the metal beams and giant blocks out until he returns sometime next week. Yet another setback. Lazaro can’t do more framing until the beams are out, so he didn’t even show up on Day 42.

Due to this holdup Brad and I had to get everything out of the second story so Lazaro could work up there while he’s waiting for Junior Brown. It was somewhat of a nightmare since we had been told all along the garage bays would be completed and we could then use them as storage for our stuff on the second story. We now have piles of boxes in our dining room, a full bed in the bedroom (that the cats love), and a storage unit packed full.