Week 11 = Sub Roof

 This week the roof trusses were installed and the plywood roof decking went on top of that. We were not without drama of course… As weather dampened spirits and threatened to strike down the guys with bolts of lightning while they toiled between spells of torrential rain. 

How awesome does this look?  They are ready for more plywood!

Aaron, with the balance of a cat and nerves of steel, perched on the edge of my garage. He’s ready to catch the first of the 3 full length roof trusses with his bare (actually gloved) hands.  Honestly, I’m not sure how they accomplished the transition from ground to garage. I couldn’t hang around to watch, it gave me anxiety!

When all was said and done this week, work was progressing amazing quickly and pieces of the house were looking like this one day:

And then like this a day later!

I guess to the outsider looking in, it does seem fast, easy and no big deal. On closer inspection, the guys are working hard on a daily basis; straddling joists, pinned against walls, wielding heavy power tools and carefully coordinating every aspect so tasks are done in the right order and everyone has the help of another crew member, when needed. 

The blue door was joined by a blue tarp cover for the wetter evenings. Thankfully the combination of our dry climate (for the most part) and a house that is full of “openings”, meant during the course of the week, most of the moisture that found its way inside, also found its way back out. Time will tell how the kitchen is holding up against the conditions,  inside its custom boxes.

Room with a View - that's the GOAL

 It was a dripping, snowy, cold and miserable weekend. Tarps did their thing but inevitably, water got into the house. I arrived Monday morning to find Joe in charge of carrying water. Just when he thought transporting water by the bucket was a third world country event, he found out otherwise. Actually it was a stroke of genius; The tarps had a join in them, above a 50 gallon wheelie bin, so when the snow/sludge/water had to run, it ran as directed (for the most part) into the bin. Trouble is, at near full capacity, there was no way to wheel it out of the house. Enter, Joe and his bucket!

The rain persisted the beginning of the week and I found my guys working hard “inside” with rain jackets on. What troopers! Turns out they are not made of sugar.  🙂

In true Colorado spring fashion, the clouds were soon gone and 70+ degree temps sucked all the moisture right back out of the ground… and this Martin Acres pop-top.

This week was a giant step forward in construction. With the floor in upstairs, the guys were able to frame and store all the pieces up there. How they got all the tools, table etc up the decidedly wobbly ladder is beyond me, but they did.

Framing first, then plywood, then weather-paper.

Every day is a new picture and if I wasn’t so busy, I’d be there everyday with my camera. Not complaining, just sayin’.  I understand that the lady in the purple heels or white pants or summer dress is understandably going to stick out on a construction site so trust me when I say, I feel inappropriately dressed and awkward when I visit too… But it is what it is.  I dress up for closings and make no apologies for it!  🙂

To be welcomed onto the construction site by this team… To have them explain all sorts of things to me, answer my questions and address my concerns, to feel like Im not a pain in the butt, is pretty nice. Then there is this level of fun… Pictures and jokes are going to be one of my favorite memories of this process and that, is priceless!

This pic is for you Mark. Your master bedroom view! (above)

And by Friday day afternoon, it looked like this!

Mark and I took breakfast burritos to the “house” Saturday morning and had a picnic followed by some exploring and a selfie or two.  🙂

Pop-Top Construction Update with TONS of photos!

 This Martin Acres construction is the project I just can’t look away from! Every other day I can find an excuse to “swing by” on my way to or from a work appointment, whip out my cell phone and record some snapshots in time. Most days there is something new to see. Sometimes it’s happening in a place that is hard to capture or the progress is not that apparent.

I’m totally besotted by this little John Deere work-horse and I kinda want one. It’s cute, it’s useful and it looks fun to drive!

And by the weekend – the snowy, cold, icy weekend – the house was looking like this. Mostly protected from the unpredictably unpredictable nature of a Colorado spring!  

This week the guys are framing for the upstairs walls and, fingers crossed, by Friday we’ll see the arrival of roof trusses. Dang! I can hardly wait til Friday!