… that is to say, the behind of the house…

So it’s been a while and y’all deserve more updates. So here goes.

Since we last spoke a great deal of work has been completed. We now have a fully framed building envelope. 1st, 2nd and 3rd floors are framed on the edges (the room partitions are not yet done), subfloors are down, stairwell openings and glass flooring openings have been established, skylights are in, one sun tunnel is in, the roof is fully in place complete with drip edges, the back wall has been fully framed, light junction boxes on the back wall are in, both rear bay windows are fully installed, the kitchen sliding door is in place and the transom is set. The back wall has been stuccoed, the back yard has been raked clear of debris, ash and other plant-unfriendly material and the siding on both the new east and west walls are installed. Whew.

Not bad for a few weeks, eh?

Now for the details. First of all, everything has gone pretty well so far. No major problems. The building envelope was framed very nicely and the subfloors look fantastic. We did have a little bit of trouble aligning the opening sizes for the glass flooring and stairs – Craig’s drawings weren’t exactly correct. The floor heights he had were incorrect, for the most part, which messed up the stair sizing, and the glass floor openings he specified were too wide. None of this was too much to overcome, however, and we were on track after losing about a half-day going back and forth on specifics and clarifications.

The skylights are pretty impressive. I’ll try to get some photos looking up from the first floor. They add lots of desperately needed sunlight, especially to the first floor which gets very little.

The roof looks awesome. I’ve been on it and, again worthy of a photo, is the view from the roof into center city looking out over the park. The roofing material Craig specified will be great, though we’ll have to coat it in a light color to reflect some of the heat and, since it’s not a real “walkable” surface, we’ll put a deck over top of it once the rest of the work is done.

The big story really is the back of the house. A big part of our goal for the new place was to establish a rear yard where, as Davie says, “People don’t have to climb over each other to get around the table.” We’ll have room for a small fireplace, plants in the ground, a tree, a fountain, a nice brick patio and plenty of breathing room. For a city yard, it’s a nice size. What’s more, the back of the house is really something to behold. The rear windows and doors definitely serve their purpose of bringing in lots of light, but they also look awesome. The back of the house – as you can see from the last image below – is really coming together.

Next up – the stair systems from Basement to 3 get installed on Monday and then the carpenters and masons get a break while the little bit of interior framing gets done and the plumbing, electrical and HVAC rough-in starts. We’ve ordered the windows for the front wall – a total of 8 3′ wide x 6′ tall windows, and three transoms 3′ wide x 1.5′ tall. Northern exposure or not, they should let in a fair bit of daylight.

Looking north toward the front of the house, this shows the stair and glass floor openings clearly.

Our carpenter, Justin, and his father – a roofer by trade, were two of the core framing team. Justin’s dad is shown here.

2nd floor, looking north, before the subflooring was complete.

Looking toward the rear on the first floor, back wall not yet framed.

Looking toward the rear of the house – the back is framed but the windows aren’t yet in.

Justin and Jamus working on the siding.

The back wall, completed, with stucco, two bay windows, the back door and transom.