Our Phase 2 Addition: in a nutshell

It may have been a long time since I have blogged, but that certainly doesn't mean that things have not been changing around here.

Last time I posted, I announced that we were embarking on a big addition....and it wasn't a baby.  We planned to add on a mudroom and garage.  But before I get into that, I thought I'd go way back to when we first bought our house to show you what it looked like.

Yikes! That looks pretty gloomy.  And it was. 

This was the first picture we ever took of our house.  We first looked at it in December 2012 and didn't closed until that following May.  It was quite the process, but I won't get into that.

Here are a few pictures we took the day we closed on the house.

Initial improvements included ripping out overgrown bushes, cutting down rotting trees, and replacing the windows and siding.

We knew we were going to eventually add on a garage and porch so we left some things as is.  On the the old garage, we left the white siding and the front gutters.  We also planned to replace the roof in the next phase so that the shingles would all match.  The old wrought iron railing was scrapped and it was replaced with wood railing, that I painted white.

And that's pretty much how our home looked for 3 years before we started demolition last July.

Let's zoom on through with a little month by month update for you:

August:

Foundation and framing of garage
 

September:

More framing of garage
 

October:

Windows, porch framing

November:

Pour concrete, continue to frame porch

 

December:

Complete framing, new roof, garage door installation, start siding

January:

Complete siding, install lighting, railing and skirting

February/March: 

 Odds and ends getting finished up like the railing, post wraps, the driveway. 

And here is today:
We still have a number of things to do... a few more post wraps, planting grass, stain the porch floor and stairs.  And then of course there is one very obvious thing we need to do:  The Landscaping... which we don't think will happen until next spring.  But we do plan on working on putting in a stone retaining wall this summer (hopefully).

Here's a side-by-side comparison with the house when we first bought it:

Does it look like the same house?

No? I'm ok with that.  :-)

Another side-by-side comparison for you.

I can't wait to get some flower boxes and some hanging ferns out this summer.  

If you have followed this process closely, you may be wondering why we ended up adding the porch on.. because, going into this project that was not the plan.  We thought we were just going to add on the mudroom and the garage and wait to add the porch later on down the road.  Long story short, it just made sense to proceed with the porch now, considering some of the changes we were making to the house. And man am I glad we did. 

It is amazing how much more enjoyment we are getting out of our home with our new addition... especially the porch.  I knew that a big garage would be great, I am just a little surprised to the extent I love having a porch.  I felt sort of trapped inside my house because there wasn't really any place to hang out outside since we bought it.  And now my outdoor enjoyment at home has improved 100 fold! Abe loves to ride his cozy coupe around the drive while I sit on the porch, eating grapes, getting fanned by Michael.  Except not that last part.  Just seeing if you were still reading! ;-) 

We are SO thankful for everyone that has helped us get to the (near) end of this construction project.  We couldn't have done it without some key players: My parents, my Uncle Steve (remember Saint Steve from phase 1 renovation?!), and M2 construction. Big time thanks and hugs for all of them for helping us see this thing through! 

So that's all for today folks! I haven't even gotten into sharing about the inside, there is a lot more to come and I will do my best at updating things more regularly as we progress.  But in the mean time, I am much more apt to sharing via instagram.  For the most up-to-date info, follow me there!

I zoomed through 10 months of work, if you have any questions, just leave them in the comments below. 

Scrappy, Scrappy, Scrappy

Hi everybody! Welcome Michael Blough to the Blog!  The picture below is not a picture of Michael-you may have been confused, you know, beards and all.  Anyway, that's a picture of one of the guys from Duck Dynasty.  If you've watched the show you may know the catch phrase "Happy Happy Happy."  Well I asked Michael to write a guest post about how we became "happy happy happy" by finding a way to get our house to pay us back a little bit during the demolition process.  This post is all about the scrapping process and how it made us very happy! ~Laura

Happy Happy Happy | Scrappy Scrappy Scrappy

Well, it's probably about time for me (Michael) to write a blog post. I have been scrapping our metal and old appliances this summer, and Laura recommended that I blog about it. I tried to get out of it by reminding her that her writing is more entertaining and how much of a better writer she is, but it didn't work. She thanked me for the compliment and asked me when she could expect my submission. :) So, here it goes...

As we started our construction project and got involved with demolition, I knew we were going to have a lot of scrap metal. We replaced our appliances, removed all the copper plumbing, removed a lot of ductwork, replaced copper wires, and all the aluminum siding on the house. My first idea was to turn the scrap into this...

But, I figured the fuel efficiency was poor. So instead, I decided to scrap it.

Before I get started on my process, I must give some credit to a website that I referenced frequently.

www.scrapmetaljunkie.com

It was a great resource throughout my scrapping experience and has a scrapping handbook that I used often.

So, here is the step by step process I used to turn our scrap trash into scrap treasure:

 

How to Scrap

Step #1: Get Yourself a Magnet

One of the most basic tools for a scraper is a magnet. With a magnet you can determine which metals are ferrous or non-ferrous.

In depth explanation: check out this blog post:
http://www.altonmaterials.com/the-differences-between-ferrous-and-non-ferrous-scrap-metal/

Short explanation:  Ferrous metals contain iron (examples: steel and cast iron) and are magnetic. Non-ferrous metals do not contain iron (examples: aluminum, copper, and brass) and are not magnetic.

Step #2: Strip Your Appliances

The next step involves removing all the "good" stuff from your appliances. If you skip this step you could be losing out on money. The scrapyard give the lowest price for appliances with mixed metals, therefore it is to your advantage to separate the valuable metals out. Start by removing any power cords. These will contain copper. For dishwashers and fridges, remove any stainless steel. Any non-ferrous metal is much more valuable than ferrous, so take them out when you see them.

 

Step #3: Separate Your Metals

This seems obvious, but it is a very crucial step. Separating your various metals helps save time when you arrive at the scrapyard. Plus, if you separate them before you arrive, you won't have disgruntled people glaring at you as they wait for you to get off the scale. In addition to separating your metals, it is also a good idea to put your non-ferrous metals in an easy-to-reach location on your truck or trailer. You'll see why later.

Separated Scrap

Ready to Roll

Step #4: Head to the Scrapyard

OmniSource is a buyer of scrap metal in town and most of the following info relates to this yard, but my guess is most scrapyards follow a similar protocol. I recommend going as early in the morning as possible to avoid a rush, especially if you go on a Saturday.

Step #5: Start with the Non-ferrous Metals

It doesn't really matter which area you start with, but I liked starting with these metals because these get you the most money! At OmniSource, there is a separate building with a small scale for non-ferrous materials.

After each metal is weighed, you present your ID and get your picture taken. Note, keep your ID handy. You present it at every  station along the way. From what I understand, there is a "black list" of scrap metal thieves and the process of asking for your ID and taking pictures reduces the crime. Once you are photographed, you are presented with a weight receipt with your payout amount.

Non-Ferrous Building

Step #6: Ferrous Metals

Now, you're ready for steel, appliances, cast iron, etc. In general, these ferrous materials are the bulk of your load. Because of the large quantities, this process involves a truck scale. First, pull up onto the truck scale, and enter a small building near the scale to go through the usual ID process. You tell the attendant what you are weighing and they input your "gross" weight (weight of your vehicle and metal scrap) into their system. You drive off the scale to the appropriate pile and unload your metal. Once you unload, it's back into line for the scale. Now the attendant will weigh your vehicle and get your "tare" weight (weight of your empty vehicle). Your "gross" weight minus your "tare" weight is your "net" weight. You are paid for your "net" weight. Now that your net weight is calculated, you take your weight receipt with your payout amount.

Truck Scale

Unloading Scrap (Picture features my scrapping buddy, Tim Blaum)

Crane at Ferrous Scrap Pile

If you have multiple scrap categories to be weighed on the truck scale, you must go through the scale and get weighed for every type material you bring to the scrapyard. This can often take some time if the line to the scale is long - another reason to go early.

Step #7: Get Paid!

This is the best step of all! Now, all your hard work finally gets rewarded. Take your weight receipts to the cashier's office, show your ID, get your picture taken, and get paid cash. Here is the breakdown of my scrapping work this summer to give you some perspective.

And when we saw that grand total, it made us happy, happy, happy!

Money in the bank... and then right back out again.  But, I guess, such is a life lived renovating.  

Breakdowns and Timbers

It has been quite the two weeks.  I apologize for not getting a blog post to you all sooner. 

I had a little bit of a breakdown last week.... 

Let me tell you the reason for my lapse in house pride.

The beginning of last week the electritians came over to start working.  My brother-in-law also came over to look at our bathroom and to give us his expert opionion on tile.  Little did we know they, along with our Uncle Steve who is doing the majority of the work on our house, were all conspiring against us.  Between the electrian, my brother in law, and Steve, they all decided that we were going to need to take down ALL the drywall in the rest of the house.  That meant the exterior walls and ceilings were all going to have to come down and the insallation along with it.  What?! I thought we were done with demolition, just last week we had been talking about picking out paint colors! We were supposed to be moving forward, not backward! That was my issue with it.  I was expecting to see things start coming together, not getting pulled apart.

What calmed me was our reasoning behind why we decided to do it.

We decided to go ahead and tear the rest of the drywall down because:

-We are doing A LOT of electrical work so opening things up would make things a lot easier/faster for the electrian.

-We found various wires chewed through by critters, so opening things up would help us have some peace of mind about the safety of the electricity in our house.

-The insulation that we could see looked like the same little critters were tunneling through the insulation and we were just worried that there were tons of nasties that we might be breathing in.  Gross!

-We had a lot of repair work to do with the drywall because of all the walls we had already taken down.  And the current walls were textured plaster.  So having to match the new drywall with the old stuff would have been very challenging.  And our drywaller told us it would probably be cheaper in the long run for us to hang all new.  Plus it would look sooo much nicer and be sooo much nicer to have all new drywall vs plaster.

I just kept going over and over those reasons in my head as I was getting blown-in-insulation all over me last week.  It WILL be worth it, it WILL be worth it.

And then, I learned something about myself.  When I feel like everything in the house is chaotic, I sweep. 

"Oh, I have to decide where I want all the electrical outlets?"  I sweep. 

"You need to know where and what kind of lights I want in each room?"  I sweep. 

"There is water dripping from the ceiling after the terential downpour?" I sweep.

"We had a bunch of shingles blow off the roof?"  I sweep. 

And that might have been another reason I was feeling so stressed last week.  That blown-in-insulation was everywhere!! And I didn't have time to sweep it up until the end of the week and it was just stressing me out!

But then I swept. 

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh..................... Much better.   I've never been such a clean freak in my life but it just helps me feel like I have some control. 

Switching gears now, this happened too in the last couple weeks:



We had 3 of our trees cut down last week.  That was exciting! It was slightly unforturnate, however, because these trees were all a pretty good size and gave our house some nice shade.  However, that was their only redeeming feautre.  They are walnut trees.  

 

You may recall the waterfall of walnuts I encountered while tearing out the basement ceiling (see above).  Or the tons of walnuts found underneith the bathtub.  Or even the walnuts stashed in our fireplace.  Yeah... these trees are the culpret, or at lease accessories to the crime.  That must have been one ambitious little critter, he stashed them everywhere he could.  In the picture below, you can see he was storing them in the hallow center of this walnut tree. Bob, the Tree Guy, said that when the tree "timbered" there was a rush of walnuts from the bottom of the tree.

So we cut them down.  Many of you probably don't know the unfortunate truth about walnut trees.  I never did! But they are really terrible trees to have in your yard.  They are extremely messy with twigs and walnuts which is enough to drive you crazy.  But then we also found out that walnut trees are actually toxic to most other plants.  So that meant we would have a very difficult time landcaping around those trees.  So they had to go.  And go they did. 

Other things that happened in the last two weeks:

-We chose our front door

-We chose and ordered our bathroom fixtures

-The plummers started working

-Our 2nd dumpster was delivered (that's never a good sign)

-We chose the stain for our hardwood floors

-The electritians started installing can lights and outlets




Next week will be a pretty busy week so I hope to get something posted for you by the end of the week! We'll see!

And also, a quick shout out to our Nephew Max who turned the big 0-1 this week!

Fire!

Fire seems to be popping up as a common theme in this renovation.

You might remember when my dad got the blow torch out and set our carpet on fire day 2 of demolition

Good times...


Or, while examining our old furnace, our geothermal installer informed us he is surprised our house hadn't burned to the ground yet. Yikes! Good thing our old furnace is gone and we have our new system in place already.



Then on Saturday we started a fire... a big one!

If you haven't noticed there are huge overgrown bushes in front and behind our house.

....Or, rather, there were huge overgrown bushes in front and behind our house 

Unfortunately I missed the day my dad came over with the bobcat and pulled them out so I don't have any pictures of that process but here they are sitting on our burn pile ready to be burned. 

Along with ridding ourselves of just about the only landscaping our home came with, we also finished up tearing out the last remaining interior studs in the house and part of the kitchen and bathroom subfloor.

Then we placed all the wood scrap around the bushes on the burn pile.  Setting up the perfect conditions for one big fire.

It was ready to be burned...And I knew just the Eagle Scout to take care of it.

He was so funny.  As he was about at this point in the process, he turn around and looked at me, eyebrows raised, mischievous look on his face, and said "This is going to be fun."  It was less than 5 seconds later that we heard a fire truck ramp up their siren.  No kidding.  The comedic timing was perfect and we had a good laugh.

With no fire trucks showing up in our driveway, we let the flames rage on!



We had a pretty good time watching it burn but we had to step back pretty far because of the heat. In the video you can even see the trees around the fire smoking. But it's not like we care. Our yard is riddled with walnut trees, so we say, good reddens! 

  After going inside to grab something, I came back out and found Michael like this, enjoying his creation.

  A Man and his fire.  Its a very special thing.  

This week we are getting our new layout all framed up! This reno is going to start taking shape into the home we want it to be! Exciting! Oh and if you were curious which windows we chose, it was Anderson.  They had great ratings on Consumer Reports and it seemed that, based on a lot of online reviews we read, people were a lot happier with Anderson Windows vs. Pella.  I guess time will tell! 

Have a great week everybody!

And don't forget what our 'ol friend Smokey says...