Happy Halloween!

It was a cold one this year!

Project Tracker

Project Tracker is now working, thanks to Ingrida!

HTML help!

I need help!! I know there are some html whizzes out there and hopefully someone can help. I tried to put a "project tracker" on the upper righthand corner of the blog, and it's supposed to show 50% completion but obviously it's not working. Here's the website I got it from:

http://www.houseblogs.net/tracker/

I followed the instructions exactly but somehow it's not working. Ingrida, (4408 files) did the same thing and it doesn't work for her either. Can anyone figure out the error in the code?

Tongue and Groove

Here's the underside of our deck - 1x4 T&G decking with a clear finish.

Here's the underside of our porch roof and also with 1x4 T&G, clear finish. The rafters and knee brace are also finished with a clear stain.
By the way, I'm sure people are wondering why this roof isn't bigger, and why we aren't doing a big porch, and the answer is: stupid zoning code. It's only allowing us a 3' cover and a 6'x6' porch, and believe me, I've analyzed the code and had to jump through hoops to even get the 3' cover.

And More Siding...

Dugan and his buddy finishing up the front siding.


They've started siding the back of the house. You can also see the deck door in place.

More Siding...

They finished building the porch roof and got siding on the front of the house. You can start to see the 4" exposures above the belly band there on the front of the house.

Deck and Deck Door

Our deck door has been installed. It's a Pella Designer Series (with integral blinds - you can see them gathered at the bottom)

We got to stand on our deck for the first time today.

Siding Continued...

The windows are all trimmed out. In addition to the trim, there will be a 3/4" casing around the 3 sides, just like the detail in our old interior trim. See below for the sketchup version.

They are also done with about 1/2 of the siding on the North facade as well as the South facade.

Waterproof Deck

Here's the elastomeric coating for our Master Bedroom deck.

Flashing

This is the detail at the base of the siding, where we needed bent flashing because our existing walls are set back from the edge of the concrete foundation wall.

**Correction** This z-metal is really not "flashing", although it looks an awful lot like flashing. The real flashing is the tyvek and building paper under it, and the black felt is lapped over that. The z-metal is really there for the siding to die into because our existing walls are set back on the foundation wall (vs. flush in newer construction) Also, the top of our foundation wall is very uneven, bowing up and down, so the z-metal is really there so that our siding can be straight. It's hard to explain but Dugan's got it together and have me convinced!

Siding

They are starting to install our siding. We're using Hardiplank lap siding, smooth finish, at alternating 10 3/4" and 4" exposures up to a belly band, and above that, all 4" exposures.

Family Visit

We brought the whole family today - Mom, Grandma, Teddy, and of course Derek, Lola and me.

View from Inside

Electrical is pretty much complete. Here's a view from one of the bedrooms upstairs, with the windows in place.

Housewrap Complete!

The house has been totally wrapped and our front door is back on the house! (it'll be painted a different color) Dugan has also started to build the front porch roof. The rafters will be stained and we'll have 1x tongue and groove at the underside of the roof. (there will be sheathing on top of that for support)

Starting to Paper

They started putting up building paper (there will be 2 layers of 15# paper on the walls)and also doing all the window wrap. Don't know if they do it the same way in other states but window wrap is a big deal here in Seattle.

Check this out!

If you haven't noticed yet on the sidebar, my very good friend Ingrida has begun posting on her blog. She's rehabbing an old rowhouse in Chicago that makes 3039 seem young....The 4408 Files

Windows

Looks like they installed the new windows today. We ended up going with Milgard Fiberglass windows on the main and second floors and vinyl in the basement. Wood windows would've been nice, and were our first choice but since we're going paint-grade for our interior doors and trim, it made sense to not paint nice wood windows and get fiberglass instead. (one of the many value-engineered items..)
The remaining windows not yet installed are our Pella aluminum-clad wood windows that we had gotten a couple years ago and are reusing. There will be 3 of them ganged together at the dining room and 2 in our master bedroom.

Who Me?

We've had to switch to a different camera recently because the little rascal in the picture above decided to grab our other one (which is actually my mom's new Canon Elph) and throw it like a hot potato as I got up to get it from her. It flew about 4' in the air and bounced off the wood floor. Needless to say, it's messed up and is now at the Canon factory repair center recovering. Good thing we were still in month 5 of our 6 month warranty.

On a happier note, we passed the structural inspection today (to verify lateral and uplift restraint, ie holddowns and all that strapping, as well as other code stuff) so now we have the OK to cover. They'll install the windows in the next few days and begin siding.

Electrical Panel

Our new 200 Amp panel.

Basement Lighting

Basement can lighting has been roughed in. We're using all 5" Halo fixtures for the can lighting and some 4" Juno upstairs for wall washers.