Progress on the Addition

The framing of the addition is well under way, but before the framing could start, Rob had to set a series of piers in place on the crawl space slab,

And the back screened porch area was back-filled with stone.

Once the prep work was done, the floor joists were carefully laid.

One of the trickiest parts of adding new living space to an old structure is ensuring that the floors will be completely level from the existing structure to the new structure.  If the new construction is done correctly, there will not be an obvious transition from the old to new (step down or step up).  This was really important to us, and as you can see the joists passed the "level" test with flying colors:

After that, the first floor of the addition went up quickly:

The beam above the back future screened porch was large and unweildy:

But careful measuring and planning ensured that it fitted directly into place..the first time!

 

Here's a few shots from inside looking out.

 

Here's a shot of the framed-in bay window opening in the kitchen, looking out over the water.

 

And the bay window that will be set in place on a future date:

 

All in all, great weather for December in Virginia, and that allowed for lots of progress.

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, or Happy Festivus-for-the-Restivus!

Despite the lack of blog posts, December has actually been a very productive month on the project.  The holiday spirit is also alive and well but, as is usually the case in December, time has simply been at a premium this month between the project, work, travel, and trying to prepare for holiday visits and vacation.  Although we won't win any holiday decorating contests, I have to share how Rob's holiday good cheer extended to the project - the lights on the temporary 2x4's holding up the porch roof made me smile:

Future posts will document our December progress, but we want to take a moment to wish everyone Happy Holidays and good health, peace, and much joy in the coming new year. Enjoy this time with your family and hold your loved ones close. 

Windows to the World

There are not too many things more exciting (to home renovation junkies, anyway) than the installation of brand new, energy efficient windows.  With the addition of the windows, the framed structure of Glenlochan has been transformed into a much closer approximation of a home... which makes us think that the house might actually be completed some day!  It was a fairly efficient installation process, but the transformation was pretty remarkable.

First, the window openings were cut out. 

Then, Rob installed all of the flashing in preparation for the window installation on three sides of the house (the fourth will soon be sporting a new addition).

Then the actual installation of the windows began - this is the front of the home:

 

Note the "prairie" grill pattern on the upper side windows.

 



This is a shot of the side of the home with the windows installed - the three windows in a row are "awning" windows for the downstairs master, allowing a bed to be placed on that wall beneath the windows.  The other small downstairs window is in the study and it was specially sized so that the stained glass window found in the home (more on that restoration coming soon) can be placed in that window closer to completion date.

And, here's a view looking out of the newly installed windows:

And, finally, a few shots of the front of the home with most of the windows installed.  We now have light coming in and views out of three sides of Glenlochan - we love it!

Re-Build of the Front Porch Roof and Other Items

The front porch is taking shape and soon will be worthy of the courthouse steps.  It's really interesting how much street appeal a front porch roofline adds to a home.  (And, it helps that some of the window openings have been cut out - it makes it look more like a home again.)  Here's the process of the porch roof rebuild in pictures:

In addition to the front porch re-build, work on the new roof and dormers is also now complete on the original structure.  Here's a few shots of the roofing work and the full finished project:

And, finally, Rob was able to finish his work re-pointing the second chimney - they look terrific.

All About Courthouse Steps

The term, "courthouse steps" has more applications than you might think, but each application shares common design elements.  First of all, it can be a quilt pattern:

 

 

This was nice to know since my sister owns a quilt shop in Ohio, The Quilt Foundry .  If you are a quilter, you'll want to check it out.  Secondly, courthouse steps can be just that...the steps to a courthouse:

 

 

And finally, courthouse steps are a masonry design for steps.  Here you can see the design on the US Supreme Court....

 

 

And the NY Supreme Court:

 



 

And, finally, courthouse steps are a design option for porch steps on residential homes.  Like the quilt pattern and many actual courthouse steps, from top to bottom, each step is larger than the last on all three sides.  And, as you might have already guessed, we chose the courthouse step option for the front porch at Glenlochan.  Take a look at the latest addition to the front view of the home:

 

Certainly not as grand as the Supreme Court, but we think it will look pretty nice once the porch roof and columns have been rebuilt.  And, you can bet that I'll be paying extra attention to the steps on every courthouse I see.