Oh my goodness… what a fantastic project!! I can't wait to follow the progress and see the inside when it is done.
HOUSE RAISING!
- By : Cynthia
- Category : Home - Indoors
Home - Indoors
5
Last year we were blessed to have some friends join us for a few weeks of “barn raising.” We were overjoyed when they didn’t all run off after we started talking about a “house raising” project this winter/spring (and maybe summer/fall depending on how quickly things move along!).
Tim & Em are going over the plans so we’re all on the same page before the help starts showing up!
Josh continues to be a HUGE help around here and since he’s had some experience with building things, this time around he has a lot of things which he already knows how to do and can get right to work! What a BLESSING that is! It’s so hard to believe he’s already a young adult!!!
I like this picture because you can see THREE of our “projects” in this photo. If you look closely, you can see the shingles on the right side are a different color than those on the left! That’s from the addition of the library & my scrapbooking studio. We never did get around to reshingling the entire area to match because we knew we’d eventually be adding on again….
I’m including a photo of the existing roof because it was the topic of debate around here for quite a long time. Originally, we were planning to continue the roof line as seen above, but that would have made it REALLY long and I wanted to have something a bit different which would give some variety to the shape of the house. However, tearing out the existing roof trusses, securing the weight so the rest of the house didn’t fall down, etc., were all of concern to Tim (not to me because I knew he’d figure it out – lol). We had friends in both camps… one on Tim’s side who said it’s too big of a project, can’t be done, etc… and some on my side who said it was doable, not that big of a project, etc…. Eventually, we came to an agreement and I have the roof line I want (LOL)! Ok. So, here’s the old roof before it was taken off.
And here’s the first new truss going up.
Unfortunately (or maybe it was fortunate???), the kids and I were gone all day so we don’t have any pictures of the progress from the first roof truss to the next picture which shows what it looks like after they’re all in place. I can’t believe they did ALL of that in one day! See, it must not have been that big of a project afterall (LOL)! Humor is a must during a remodel project, you know!
Quite some progress. I nearly started to cry when I came home that night and saw the shape of it! It’s EXACTLY what I had envisioned and anyone who knows me very well will know what an accomplishment that is >VBG>! For those who don’t know me very well, I really can’t visualize anything which is only on paper. I need a 3D model or the real thing before I can visualize it!
This picture now shows where the old roof used to be for those who care to see exactly how it changed. This is the west side of the addition.
And, here’s the south side of the addition.
This picture gives a better perspective of the overall project.
They were able to get all the underlayment on the roof and Tyvek on the sides the next day.
The next day at 2:30 Tim said I needed to go to town to pick out shingles by 5:00 because he needed them by 7:30 the next morning. Again, those of you who know me very well will know that’s an impossible request! I need WEEKS maybe even MONTHS or YEARS to decide on such a major purchse. First, I need to look at every sample in town. Then, I need to have a list of all the houses which have used the samples I like the best so that I can drive around and look at them in various light conditions – daylight, overcast, dawn, dusk, you get the picture. Yea. That didn’t happen and I couldn’t decide. So, I woke Em up early the next a.m. to go in with Tim to decide for me as it was causing me TOO MUCH STRESS!
She chose the color “Heather” and it looks AWESOME! I LOVE IT! I think I’ll just put her in charge of a few more decisions and spare myself the agony of deciding anything. I’ve been trying to pick out a sink for a month!! Ok.. back to the roof.
Amanda came out to join the FUN! It’s sure nice to have all the extra help. We won’t make any jokes here on the blog about the fact that most of the pictures I have of her are when she’s sitting down drinking coffee :).
Really, she was a VERY BIG help bringing groceries out to restock our supplies since Em and I were cooking so many meals for our hungry crew(s), cooking up some dinner the day I had to go to town to (not) pick out shingles, etc., and then getting right up there on the roof to scrape off old shingles! What a girl :)! I’m so glad she chose to spend her day off helping us!!
Initially, I was a little worried about Nathan being up on the roof, but he was well watched after and he knew the boundaries. He was pretty excited to get to “really help” this time!
One of the guys even let Nathan use the nail gun and it warmed my mommy heart to see him also holding onto Nathan when he was close to the edge of the roof :).
Jim and Nathan asked how I like the “sparkles” in the shingles and I said I really liked them! They both started laughing at me. Of course, I don’t really get practical jokes since I’m such a literal person. Yea. The “sparkles” were their sunflower seed shells. At least they said there wouldn’t be any extra charge for that added feature! That’s might NICE of them to be so considerate!

Six days later we went from the first picture at the top of this blog entry with only a few pieces of subfloor in place to this picture:
WHEW! What a week! MANY thanks to all who came to help us! Next week (which is actually THIS week now that I’m late posting this…) progress won’t be as noticeable since it’s electrical and plumbing.
Shall we start taking estimates on when this project might be finished? Someone asked me what the timeline is and I replied there isn’t a timeline :). It’ll get done when it gets done. I’m just happy that we’ve started :).
