New Phase Day 2

On my lunch break I went to one of the big box home improvement stores and looked around, mainly for price comparison reasons, on doorknobs and lock sets for the exterior doors that will be installed soon. And of course I was drawn to lighting. I didn't buy anything, but it was a fun way to spend a lunch break.

After I got off of work, I was happy to see all this plywood on the front porch. And it smelled like Christmas! Or sawdust. Which basically smells the same to me. Maybe because growing up we always had a real Christmas tree? And trimming it and putting it in a tree stand smells like... sawdust?

Note the new work permit. How many will I have before it's all over? And there was more plywood on this side on the porch...

And more plywood on the inside of the house! Not down yet, of course, but this will be my sub floor, people. The putting back part is soon to start.

At first I didn't notice anything new. Until I looked up and saw that my window was gone. This one had fallen in the house, literally, but was not damaged. From the fall.

The previous owners, however, had a window air conditioning unit here. And it had leaked for a very, very long time. The water, over such a long period of time, attracted insects, that fed on the usually too-hard-to-bother-with heart pine framing under the window. But now all the rotten is gone and the new is in place.

Behind me I saw the window. At least the top part of it. It's laying sideways, the small squares go up top. The bottom window is just a solid sheet of glass. I imagine my contractor took it to the glass people, since we've decided to keep the windows, clean them up, and put them back with new glass, glazing, caulking, paint, and storm windows.

These are BIG windows. Here's a shot further out so you can see the comparison between the door and the window. The windows are about 35 inches wide, just short of three feet.

Also, I thought this header may need to be replaced, and of course, it did. But I didn't realize all the framing around these two windows would need it, as well. New Guy thought it needed it, and so it was done. Also another random stud on this wall was rebuilt. The smaller window-looking opening on the right was a window yesterday. But not original. It's going away and will be closed in.

Below the windows had to be replaced, too. These are the double windows in the dining area of the great room.

When I looked up from this picture, I found an intriguing view of the first window. So I indulged myself and took a picture and then decided to see just how big that window opening is. So I climbed up in it and stood. No one was around to take my picture in the window, but I will tell you I'm 6'3'' and the top of the window was still many inches from my head. BIG windows.

And I hopped down and took a similar angle of the double windows in the dining area. Here you can see just how comprehensively the re-framing was around these windows.

And a better idea of the dimensions of the weird, random, smaller window in the dining area. Why would you put such a small window next to a set of huge double windows?

New Guy also put down floor joists in what was the hallway for one of the apartments. This used to be a side porch on the house, but will now be part of the bathroom and part of the smaller bedroom's closet.

And lastly, for the day, New Guy took down part of the back porch ceiling and began stablizing and rebuilding it. The roof is new, the underside, not so much, but salvageable. And while the old screened-in porch is gone, a porch in some sense will go back here.

I'm really looking forward to tomorrow, to see what happens next.