Plastering continues and windows are reframed

Hello everyone.  We have remained busy around here, or I should say the workers have.  The plaster guys finished the kitchen on Saturday and then did the family room yesterday.  Also on Saturday, the roofing crew showed up and did the new family room roof, while Mike's crew has spent the last couple of days preparing for the area over the dining room for its new lid.  And the tile guys came today to prepare the bathroom showers for tile, which i think will start tomorrow.  UGLY weather of late but we're hoping for a turn for the better before too long.

The roofers started down low.

Went to the sides........

And before we knew it they were DONE.

This is the "cake mixer" I alluded to the other day.  Team of
three with one guy continually making the plaster.

Saturday's work on the kitchen.

The almost finished product.

The two big windows at the top of the stairs on the second
floor unfortunately had to come out to move the sills up.
It's the major downside of the new roof we're putting on.

The space on the left is where the door used to be which provided access
onto the old deck.  There will now be matching double hungs there.

Same two windows from the outside.

The kids shower is being made ready for the tile.

This is the same shower with a pink material they put on
before the tile goes down.  That's supposed to start tomorrow.

Carl at work framing in those new windows above the dining room.

Boarding and Plastering continues

There's an expression we've learned from a friend in the construction business called "client visual yield" and if you know what that means then you've been thru a renovation/new construction project before.  In this business there are things that are time intensive and dont "yield" much in the way of visual results (think of things like jacking up a sill or replacing a header or working on the innards of an old house) while other jobs move quickly and result in massive shifts visually day to day (think demo or, in our case, BOARDING AND PLASTERING).  After waiting through two very frustrating weeks waiting for the insulation guys to show up and/or get their gear working, we've seen huge progress the last 3 or 4 days, as you'll see in the pictures below.  The rooms are really starting to take shape and the finished product is starting to come more into focus.  In the meantime we're dealing with more of a mess than ever before but we think it'll all be for a good cause when we're done.  So to the pictures we go:

Caleb's bedroom looking at his newly boarded
bathroom and reading bay

Same photo after the plaster guys have finished their part

The kids common area.  The bucket in the middle is
their big cake mixer and the electrical instrument in there
is like a long mixer.  MESSY but interesting stuff.

Same general area but with the plaster starting to go up.  The
"table" in the middle of the photo holds a massive amount of
plaster at one time.

Getting close to a finished product in the same area.

And closer still.  Caleb loves the "stilts" they use. 
Can you say messy?  Sure, sure you can.

Picture of the kitchen from the outside where three new windows are going in.

And there they are!

Carl is to the right finishing up the windows which you just saw from the outside.
The guy in the middle is one of the boarders and within 3 hours of this
picture being taken, the entire kitchen was boarded back up!

Carl putting in a window where the old entrance to the kitchen used to be.

Through all the changes on the inside, some of Mike's crew have
been working on the trim on the outside.

The stilts Caleb loves so much.

Dark picture but this is the new pantry area near the old (but moved)
soapstone sink.

April Fools!  On 4/1 we awoke to a couple inches of new snow.
Even the kids have had enough!

Boarding and plastering begins!

We left off last week with an update about insulation.  Since then the pink fiberglass insulation has gone in the walls, the regular crew has been replacing rotten boards and trim on the outside of the house, boarders arrived to put up walls, all the new kitchen windows arrived, and this morning the plasterers are here and getting started!  Phew!

Here the two layers of insulation are visible -- the
green "foam" that was sprayed on and
the second layer of fiberglass...
(family room ceiling)



Up close...



Electrician Colm, quickly putting in a cable
before the insulator comes around!



Installing the insulation...

Scott checking the progress of the project!



Look what's in the one-car garage!
(It's our new refrigerator!)



A load of wallboard arrives...



In through the family room door...



Bags of plaster come next...

Boarders putting up the walls in the kids' bathrooms

Cutting holes in the right places...



Caleb scampering down a ladder...new trim
in the background...



That is not a golf club Caleb is swinging -- it's
a very strong magnet for picking up loose nails.



More windows arrive!



Carl and Ger carrying new kitchen windows...



New insulation!

We had to wait a while for the insulation company to arrive, but they made it to our house this week and have spent a day "spraying" on one layer.  Today they will come and put in a second layer of fiberglass insulation.  This double layer is apparently very popular now and provides added R value.  This old house could really use that kind of help! 



Greenish insulation foam partially
coating a wall...



The new mudroom...



Wall in the family room...



Ceiling and wall of Stuart Little/Sewing Room...



Replacing rotted trim...





Deck of Eliza's balcony -- reused from former second
floor deck...