December 2007

November 2007

October 22nd, 2007

Will this rain ever stop...

But, we're golden now as the black paper was put on to seal the roof. The final exterior element, the decks, are being installed and the house has its final shape. But, we still face challenges as we're having to raise the foundation to be six inches above grade. This means supporting the right side of the house and building a frame for the additional concrete. I'll bet Kenny (my contractor, see picture) is ready to run for the hills by now...

But, we're having fun.

One more thing - the last picture is our backyard which by next week should be completely leveled. We're doing the rough grading now since we have a easy way (through the garage and rumpus room) to get heavy equipment in (just like we pulled the pool out).

October 10th

October is a tough month after such progress earlier. The rain didn't slow us down but made for messier work. The setback was our sewer. We learned our pipes under the garage were in poor shape and we decided to replace them. The problem stems from an incorrect slope which increased the rate of deterioration. Anyway, we cut up the garage and pulled the pipe. Corrected the slope and installed new sewer pipe. Soon, we will have to cut into the front yard to put in a new cleanout (for city code). Fortunately, the ceramic pipe to the street is in good shape (we have a video to prove it!) so the digging should stop soon...

September 24th, 2007

Late September sees great progress as the roof rises. It is quite complex with several pitches and levels. We added a few additional skylights and we were delighted to find we will be able to stand upright in the attic!

September 2007 - more framing, shearwall and the roof starts...

During September we strengthened and expanded the framing, ordered windows, starting shearwalling (plywood siding) the house, and the roof begins to appear.

August 2007 - Family Room takes shape and 2nd floor expands

August saw fast progress as we poured concrete to increase the footings. And, the frame for the expanded family room and kitchen arose. The expanded second floor which will be our master bath and bathroom took shape. Inside the house, new rooms appeared as a dining room became a pantry and butlers pantry. Hallways expanded and ceilings rose to 9 ft.

July 2007 - Tear down, structural reinforcement, and expansion

The period from mid-June to late July was busy as we continued to remove parts of the house while simultaneously shoring up other parts with lots of beams. And, we started the expansion of the kitchen and the addition of a new family room.

And, the old 'Beast' ('87 Honda with 242K miles) is my new truck...

June 2007 - We begin...

Two years and 2 months after the fire, we finally begin rebuilding our home in San Carlos, CA.