Week 5

The work on the dormer stopped. We are waiting for the window and the roof, so they can finish the outside trim. The insulation inside will have to wait when the entire addition gets insulated before drywalling and finish it.
They are also prepping for the slabs leveling the gravel and placing wire mesh. I put slabs even in crawl spaces. It keeps it clean and dry and easier to access and service. They also began taking the brick down from the front of the master bedroom and garage to begin framing.
The roofer came by with samples and I quizzed him on the installation, materials and warranties. He came back with an acceptable bid so he is on. The only problem is this roofer will not be able to do the metal roof over the dormer even though he can install the metal roof on the low pitch in the back. Steve is searching a sheet metal installer. He says he know an Amish guy who will do it.
I finally got the HVAC contractor to come by. It looks like we will need an additional unit to heat and cool the new addition. We are looking at a few options and he is supposed to get me a propsal by next week.
Confession: Mechanical and plumbing systems are not my strongest suit and I often rely on being educated by the contractors. The problem though is that each contractor or supplier wants to sell you what they have and used to, so it takes some more research to sift throught the inforamtion. At the end of the day I have to rely on what makes sense and not just nod my head at what is offered.
See pictures http://adventures-in-remodeling.blogspot.com/p/week-5.html

Week 4

This week is mostly filling the gaps between foundations, water proofing the foundations, placing footing drains and back filling with gravel and dirt. We have too much dirt and luckily a friend/client for whom Steve was building an addition needed the dirt. It was great, he just moved it from one project to another. The front of the house looks much cleaner now without the high piles.
Confession: As I stood in the dining room looking out on the completed foundation I suddenly realized that I had made a moronic design error. I looked down on the new crawl space over which we are expanding the dining room and realized that I could have created a corridor to connect the new basement to the existing basement. It is hard to describe here without looking at the plan but it was a very belated AHA moment that even my husband and contractor could not believe we did not think of it. The original plans had the basements connected but when we revised them to scale down the project that connection was lost. Our house was built in the late sixties and has only a partial full basement with a lot more crawl spaces. The addition is adjacent to the garage and a crawl space so the connection was not obvious. It should have been but sometimes when working on something for so long one becomes blind and loose fresh insight. Steve was as bugged about it as I was and we stood there discussing what it may take to make it happen. The amount of money and work it would require was prohibitive. It would set us back weeks. So I had to forgive myself and move on.  
See Pictures http://adventures-in-remodeling.blogspot.com/p/week-4.html

Week 3

They stripped the foundation forms and upon inspection guess what. We see a hole in the basement wall. For some reason the concrete contractor thought he needed to jump the foundation at that point. Why is beyond understanding. Why would anyone with a common sense think that not closing the walls in a basement is a good idea. He also forgot to place the beam pockets. The foundation work is certainly not up to my expectation. It is not structurally unsound just sloppy. As I suspected the original concrete contractor was not available (because we had to wait so long for the permit) and not wanting to delay the work, Steve got a last minute replacement. Well the problems are to be corrected at the contractor's expense. We had a couple of rainy days and not much work is done. But then they came to reform the area that needed to be fixed. Meanwhile the carpenters continue to work on the dormer. They opened up the inside and I could finally see the framing. I notice that the frame is not as thick as I had expected.
Confession: I assumed that the guys understood how the dormer should be built. Well it is solid and looks good but the thickness of the barrel frame is barely adequate for insulation. The alternative is to use sprayed foam insulation which does not need venting and is more efficient. The guys bring in rigid foam insulation panels trying to convince me that it will work. I could not see how it would form to a barrel roof, I guess they can score it but there will be so many cuts and pieces that the insulation value would be lost. The truth is they are not equiped to apply sprayed foam. It is a specialty so I began to research and hunt for a company that can do it. One company that specializes in it would not come out just for the dormer, they need a bigger job I began considering using this type of insulation throughout. It is supposed to be a better product but it is also more expensive, about 30% more. Apparently it is so energy efficient it qualifies for a tax credit. 

See Pictures http://adventures-in-remodeling.blogspot.com/p/week-3.html

Week 2

There is a lot of cutting in the existing foundation to create access from new to old. Forming the foundation took about 3 days. Meanwhile the carpenters began working on the eyebrow dormer in the front of the house. This is one feature I really wanted and felt would really make a difference. Steve had assured me they absolutely positively know how to do it. They built several. Well surprise surprise, they built dormers before but not like this one. It is fairly complicated because of the curves and is taking much longer than expected to build. By the end of the week the foundations were poured and I could see what the dormer will look like.
Confession: I had designed a bathroom in the new basement. It was a questionable item. The new basement is a foot lower than the existing which makes it too low to connect the plumbing without the need of a pump. After several days of debating the pros and cons we opted to remove the bathroom. We did not want to worry about a pump malfunction and a sewer back up. Frankly I don't know much about them but my husband who was most concerned researched it and came to the conclusion that it was not a good idea. The space will be mostly used for exercise and we are putting a bathroom right up by the stairs so we did not feel it was a big compromise. I had 2 plumbers come look at the job early on but they could not tell me much until we excavated to see where the existing plumbing is. That is the nature of remodeling, it is not always easy to plan things ahead and one must always be ready to make adjustments.

See Pictures http://adventures-in-remodeling.blogspot.com/p/week-2.html