In anticipation of deer season . . .

Deer season!!!  Everybody wants to get their work done before next Saturday when gun season starts.  Can't tell you how many times I've heard, "we need to get your job done before next weekend . . . "  So we did our best to line things up.  The weather was uncooperative early in the week.  The rest of the roofing material finally came in, but it was cold, windy and rainy.  Metal roofs are slippery when wet . . . or dusty.  But the roof was done by the end of the day Thursday.  YAY!

Calvin putting the finishing touches on the roof.

The garage was insulated on Monday.  It was fascinating to see how it was done.  They go through each room with a foam gun and seal every little seam and crack, including all the holes that are drilled for all the electric wires and all of the electrical boxes.  Then they stretch a fine mesh fabric over the wall cavities and blow insulation into each one until it reaches a certain density.  The ceilings get the same caulk and seal, but they hang fiberglass batts in the shallow parts of the ceilings and then blow loose insulation in on top.  The final step is done after the drywall is up on the ceilings.  They go in through the attic access and blow in loose fiberglass to a certain R-value where the roof pitch is high enough to allow. 

Garage walls filled with insulation.

Tuesday we drove into St. Louis county to look at granite for our countertops.  The variety is amazing. They had slabs of marble, limestone, soapstone and quartzite. One of the slabs was full of huge fossils. Wish I could afford it!  Several of them had such strong abstract patterns they looked like paintings.

The chimney installer put in the sleeve for the wood stove on Wednesday.  He wasn't sure he would be able to cut the hole in the roof because of the rain, but it dried off enough to get the job done.  We couldn't move forward on the rest of the insulation or drywall until he was done. 

Wednesday night the drywall crew came in and hung the garage.  Those guys are all business.  They were done in a few hours and it looks great.  The tapers will come in later.

The stonemasons were back on Thursday and Friday.  They made good progress.  About half of the stone is on now and looks really nice.  It grounds the house - makes it look connected to the land - like it belongs there.  To be honest, I wasn't real crazy about it when they started, but I love it now.

 

Garage doors were installed Thursday, too.  Jeff put up more trim and siding.  Tyler and Adam brought the trash wagon out and hauled away all the scrap from the roof and a bunch of other trash.  It continues to amaze me how much packaging and debris is created in this process and there's just so much that you can recycle.  They also framed up the front steps on Thursday and they were poured on Friday.  The knee walls on either side will be covered with stone.

First coat of stain on the front door.

Thursday and Friday were absolutely gorgeous.  Sunny and in the 70's.  Everybody was in t-shirts instead of sweatshirts like earlier in the week.  The insulation contractor was back on Friday afternoon and again on Saturday.  The 2nd floor is insulated now.  They'll be back on Monday to work on the 1st floor and basement walkout.

 

 

Shiloh enjoying the porch.  He kept the insulation crew company.

 

 

 

On Friday, Chris and I decided to take advantage of the good weather to get rid of some of the wood construction debris.  We took our lawn chairs, sandwiches and a cooler out to the house on Friday afternoon, built a small fire and burned about half of the piles that had accumulated.  Steve came over to keep us company.  Our peace and quiet was interrupted when a delivery truck showed up full of drywall for the rest of the house.  

 

 

The sunset was amazing Friday.

 

I drove out early this morning to check on the progress of the drywall on the 2nd floor.  I got to the house about 8:30 and they were more than halfway done.  They will come back tomorrow evening after the insulation guy leaves.  The tapers should start work tomorrow also.

View from the studio to the guest room.  What a difference!

 

View from the guest room to the studio.

We just might make our deer season deadline. . .