2nd Floor Rooms with a View

2nd Week of July


Front yard view

It looks like the framing is going up one floor a week.  Almost every time I turn around there is something more to look at.  (Of course, that's another story, possibly meriting a blog entry of its own.  Since we are renting right next door to our property, we literally get to see the house grow before our eyes.)

View from the rear side yard, looking toward family room

It is interesting to see not only how quickly they are able to erect the walls, but also how some parts of it almost seem random.  You can see from the pictures that some windows are cut out through the plywood sheathing, and some are not.  That is partly due to the framing-in-progress, and maybe partly where they want some light inside.  But their goal is to get to the roof as quickly as possible.  They do not worry about getting all the details right initially; they will go back for that.

Looking west, down the 2nd floor Hallway

We brought a ladder over to the house, so that we could climb up to the second floor.  (The carpenters shove all their ladders up to the 2nd floor at the end of the day, and for safety we totally appreciate that.)  They literally build the wall sections on the floor; then tilt them up into place.  This explains why studs do not necessarily line up structurally, but they go back later and add studs at critical load points.  With all the wood, it's hard to believe the house is going anywhere.



Looking East, toward the Master Bedroom



Master Bedroom

Because the new house is just about right on top of the old house, it is fascinating to recognize the differences.  The 1st floor of the new house is about 2-feet higher than the old house, and the ceiling heights are 9-feet at both the 1st and 2nd floors.  When we look out the windows we know we are higher up.  We see more into the leaves of the trees at the 2nd floor.  The view from the Master Bedroom looks directly toward the Buddha, which as sat between an apple tree and a japanese maple tree for 5 years now.



Looking down (sideways) on the Family Room


Yikes!  Someone's going to have to show me how to rotate photos!  Sorry about this.  The Family Room will be the heart of the house, and where I know we will spend 90% of our time.  I will talk more about it in my next blog, when I can figure out how to rotate my pictures *&^%_)^*.