Skip to main content

Oh not much

Image
By Natalie
 I went back to work on the 17th so have blissfully quiet surroundings.
We started with three carpenters fixing the rot. Basically, they started on the porch and have worked their way around our house fixing any rotten wood they find. Along the way, they've found -literally - 400 lbs of squirrel nests. Squirrels ate through the crown molding and made nests in the eaves. At one point, these were fixed with metal soffits. We've replaced those with wood and are encouraging the squirrels to stay very far away from our roof and attic.
We then added to the fun a set of roofers who are working on the total restoration of our slate roof. It was not leaking, it had been patched and tweaked over the years, but it had maybe 10 yrs left on it - and those 10 yrs would be full of $1,800 repairs when slates blew off (yes), the metal flashings finally gave way (yes), and the rot from water running in at weird angles. We decided to go ahead and do it now while we still have access to the state tax credit program. Total bill for the roof should be around $95,000 of which we will get back ~$28,000 in state tax credits.
When the roof if finished the tern metal will be replaced with zinc, the lower porch roof will be zinc, and the slates will be reinstalled on all the other portions of the roof.
 
 

Oh yes, we also had some masons out to repoint the chimneys. Bricks had started falling onto the slate, birds were swooping and nesting, and there was a tree starting to grow. Imagine our surprise when they showed up Saturday to pick the mortar loose. Those were fun sounds to wake up to. 
 
Last week on most days we had 10+ people at the house working, sawing, picking their nose, etc.
 
 
And gratuitous pictures of a fat, happy, smiling baby. Margot is a darling and a half. This is from my maternity leave when the three of us (Madeline was in school) drove to Greensboro to check out their arch salvage shop. Fincastle's burgers afterwards FTW.
 
 
As it's now raining and a holiday we have some beautiful tarps over the roof. This should hopefully keep the water out until the slates are reinstalled. Hopefully. Waking up at 5am to place vessels under leaks in an attic is no fun - just ask Harris.
Labels:

Comments

  1. Mike SpringDecember 3, 2014 at 1:07 AM

    Margot is precious!!

    You seem to have 2 very similar pictures of the house, roof and ladders but one is little bit farther away (across the street maybe?)

    Again Margot is precious! Your Mom commented the other day she looks a lot like you did at that age.

    ReplyDelete
  2. NatalieDecember 3, 2014 at 9:04 AM

    It's the cheek jowls :)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

a second kitchen design

By Natalie
Taking into account comments, good ideas, and original plans I think we have a new contender. No, before we hadn't thought about where the microwave would go or the trashcan. :) Originally Sara had us putting the range on the chimney and running counters all around it. We couldn't figure out how in practise that would work and started dreaming about dual ovens and cooktops in counters and all sorts of things that are fancy and pretty, but not really needed for how we live now or plan to live later.    This one gives Harris a gas cook top and me a convection oven. Dual fuel from bosch and we're both happy.     It also creates two separate work stations on either side of the range and will fit around the door that will exist for the next year, but not forever. I like that this way we're not building out something that will have to be torn out in 12 months. I really really hate that.   ...
4 comments
Read more

Bill's new smile

By Natalie
Before reading this, know I have Bill's full permission to share. Most of my friends know Dollar Bill is my daughters' self-proclaimed godfather. The girls run in delight when they hear him approaching calling their names. For our youngest, he's decided she goes by her middle name, asking for little Hillary. What you might not know is that this summer he's experienced some hardships that require surgery. His remaining upper teeth have suddenly failed, making eating, talking, chewing difficult for him. He also doesn't smile as much anymore. Bill had some dental work done when he joined the Navy in the 80s. They pulled teeth and left him with partials that have now failed. The VA won't fix this for him and he doesn't have dental insurance. While you can't see his teeth, his roots are intact - necessitating surgery before he can get dentures. A reputable local dentist  has examined Bill and come up with a plan of treatment to remove his root...
Post a Comment
Read more

Budget

By Natalie
Dad was asking about the budget and how we're doing so far. Initially we had a total budget of about $350k for the house. As we negotiated the purchase price up and found more information about what the house needed that budget went to a maximum of about $415k. As of today, we anticipate spending around $400k or ~$111/sqft. As a comparison, Oakwood cost us $90/sqft and we sold for $106/sqft and the new owners are doing all kinds of neat stuff we dreamed about doing. So far we're under budget in a couple of areas, within budget but ahead of schedule in some (which can also be read as over budget...) and just going to be way over in a couple of key areas. Our original plan including making a temporary kitchen that we could live with, but would be massively overhauled within a year or two. Instead we decided to do it right the first time and enjoy it the entire time. To this end, our temp budget for cabs, appliances, and counters, was initally $5,600. However, that's g...
4 comments
Read more