Thursday, November 22, 2012

House Building Project - Part 11

2012 was the year to build. The lack of all types of precipitation throughout the summer and now almost into December has been our friend. With the exception of two very wet weeks in October, the sky has been blue, greatly adding to the efficiency of the construction project, not to mention the general morale of all those around us.

We are still a construction zone but huge progress has been made. The windows are installed and temporary doors are in place. All of the roof is covered and watertight and about half has the finished standing seam metal roof. Snow is in the forecast for the next couple of days but no worries here. Bring it on!


The front porch is the push right now and then the screen porch on the back so that the roofers can come back to finish. Just as the workers were getting ready to leave last night the porch rafters were found to be slightly off. So at 6:30 (barely light) and Thanksgiving morning, Frits was out there refiguring, tearing out and rebuilding. It will be just fine.
The spaces inside are taking form. Each morning and often in the evening with my headlamp, I walk through, envisioning how the furniture will be placed and where my morning coffee will be enjoyed. From this camera angle you can see part of the kitchen to the left, the edge of the cupola to the right and through the living room to the bedroom door and beyond. The screen porch will be through the French doors.

Behind the plastic is the fireplace which will have a raised hearth but still the actual style and material of the surround is to be determined. The chimney is stone clad but still under its shroud.

Earlier this week, Frits wanted me to see the chimney stonework and hear my thoughts on the type of cap we wanted. By the time I get home it is well after dark but Frits thought this would be a better time than early in the morning when the frost is on the roof. I couldn't do it. Granted, the sky was clear and the moon was up but just a sliver of a new moon was not enough light for me. If I was going to fall off the roof I needed to see where I was going to fall. So dutifully the next morning at 6:45 up the ladder I went.

Back in the day when we were building our first house (circa 1971) and at about this time of year, I experienced my first roof shingling job. Not overly comfortable with heights and freezing I was coached in how to line up the shingles to the line we had snapped, take off my gloves long enough to nail them securely and inch my way across the staging, row by row, until after many hours, one side was complete. In spite of my discomfort I remember feeling pretty pleased with myself at the time. When Frits came to inspect my workmanship the ruler came out and he declared that the edge had travelled and was 1/4 inch off! Thoroughly deflated and contemplating divorce, I swore that that was the last roof I was going on. Over the years, I have claimed a 1/4 inch concession multiple times and we have had many a laugh over it.

Now, a senior citizen but still fairly agile, it was time to see the chimney, up close and personal. At about 26 degrees there was a good coating of ice on the roof surface, which might have called for crampons or, at the very least, yak traks, in normal circumstances. By hanging on to the edge of the cupola and working my way gingerly across the ridge I made it to the plastic housing and to safety. The chimney looked great! The return trip was a little more harrowing as I was now looking down but after all, it is a really low pitch and not that far to the ground. What's the big deal?