Steve’s been chomping at the bit to get working on the house. He was given the okay on a Thursday and by Saturday morning the saw horses were up and construction noise was echoing through the valley once again.
The addition was our focus. The interior was ready for insulation but first we had to get siding, soffits and fascia put up on the exterior.
We have used Hardie Products in the past and opted to use it again on this project. The finished house and garage will have a combination of lap siding and board & batten.
The addition was designed to be covered with HardiePlank Lap Siding with a 6 inch reveal.
We started on the front side
and installed the soffit
fascia and trimmed the windows.
Finally the siding went up! (It’s primed yellow, it’ll be painted white like the garage.)
The back side was a little more involved. The original wood siding needed to be removed and an original window needed to be replaced.
I was worried the overhead work would irritate Steve’s shoulder so Zach helped me remove the wood siding.
Steve took out the old window.
The new window was installed and siding started to go up.
Windows were trimmed
and it was done! (We wish it were that quick!)
What’s with the tarp you wonder?
Well, funny thing actually. I was finishing my post and needed a picture of the back addition and realized I never took one.
No big deal, right?
Wrong. Things change here so fast, in the couple weeks since we finished the siding, Steve had ripped out the porch floor and covered the area with a tarp to keep the crawlspace dry.
So, you get a tarp in the picture.
We salvaged the original window along with the pulley and weights. We’ll have quite a few when we’re done replacing all the original windows, not quite sure what I’ll do with some of them but for now we store them. Any siding that didn’t split as we took it off we kept and I removed the nails. There were only a couple pieces below the window that had some rot, the rest was in great shape. We may use it to side a new gardening shed we plan to add in the future.
This whole house demo and remodel is exciting, exhausting and at times completely overwhelming!
There are many moments of frustration and irritation.
At times we have debated hiring someone to just finish the whole project. It would be so much easier and it would get done so much faster. We’d have fewer headaches and a lot more free time.
Then the dust settles and we remind ourselves why we are doing this. We didn’t like the chaotic life we were living where faster, bigger and more of anything/everything was the goal. We chose to leave that behind and are choosing to live more simply, at a slower pace and with more purpose.
We are choosing to savor this life and not rush through it!
So, once reminded, we pick up where we left off and slowly accomplish amazing things, that in the end will make a wonderful home that we can savor!
As always, keep it simple but do it with sass!
Kim
It looks like a lot of work!!! BUT, it sure looks good when it is finished. I wish I could help. I like projects where you can see a lot of change when the job is done. Dad
It will all be worth it in the end! Looks so different! You all are doing a great job!