Calm, Forward, Straight

Calm, Forward, Straight

Thursday, February 21, 2019

Horse Before House Part 6
Measure twice, cut once

The ridge beam led to rafters, and soon the walls were closed in. Once the rafters were in place and plywooded over, the roofers took all of two days, which was both amazing and frightening in equal measure. Inside knowledge: on the steeper parts of the roof, the roofers knelt on what turned out to be the foam pads from sofa cushions, which they referred to as their "cadillacs".  😆😆😆

The windows went in next - not without a few issues. I had hoped to incorporate an antique half moon window I'd been saving for years, but sadly at the last minute my builder decided he couldn't make it work. Another lesson in being flexible and picking your battles. I decided to use the window decoratively inside the house instead.



Also - it's important to consider things like window height. Over and over I ran into specs in the plans that didn't make sense in the real world. There is a fire code that dictates size and height of bedroom windows, with regard to escaping, but where the porch roof meets the walls, i.e. where the bottom of the windows can start also has to be taken into consideration.  

When I checked out the window holes in my bedroom wall for the first time, I found that I would barely be able to see over the sills, much less reach the catch to open and close, or clean, without a ladder. I wonder what would have happened if I hadn't been living on the property, looking at the progress on a daily basis...

We ended up lowering the pitch of the porch roof from 6/12 to 4/12, (for every foot across the roof angles up so many inches), allowing the space for lowering the windows. I would have liked to do even a 3/12, but apparently in areas that get torrential rain like we do, you can't go lower than a 4/12 without risking leaking. Lowering the pitch would come in handy when it came time to paint too.




Above is one example of where I participated in modifying the plans to customize my home. Another change was the laundry facilities. In the plans, there was a pipsqueak of a closet with an apartment-sized stacked washer-dryer combo. Now - I had spent the last eight years carrying laundry to my dad's house every week, and therefore felt very deserving of a dedicated space for laundry. I suggested we convert a 10x10 block off of the porch, which runs around three sides of the house. This resulted in a spacious laundry + mudroom (!), with the added benefit of blocking the harshest summer afternoon sun, as well as much of the wind from the most used section of the porch.

Next post we'll tackle the painting. Enjoy yet more construction p*rn...


When the half moon window was happening...


Plywooding the roof + fireplace bump out


Tar papering


Roofers were here


Soon there will be rails and steps




Steps!


Siding crew has been busy prepping...








19 comments:

  1. Wow. I love the progress photos. Also totally agree that a full laundry/mud room is a must. Especially with horses.

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  2. Every post makes me more amazed at people who build. Or at least amazed by you - I doubt many people are as involved and would have even caught the window issue.

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    1. I'm amazed that the window height didn't occur to anyone else. Thinking they would have let it slide so they didn't have to redo anything...

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  3. Full laundry + mud rooms are such a wonderful thing to have, and I'm glad you got yours!

    I love being able to see all of this again with the details of the story. <3 Where did you end up placing the half moon window? I love it!

    Though not surprising given that you had been planning and dreaming about this for years, I also love the amount of research you did in order to be able to make the best decisions possible about the design and building of your house. <3

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    1. When in doubt - overthink + bury yourself in internet research!!

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  4. gosh it's so pretty <3 what a shame about the half moon window, but i'm sure you'll find a great home for it anyway! also i haven't even seen it but i'm jealous of the laundry room LOL

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  5. Wowwwwww I love it!!! Absolutely gorgeous, although I'm sorry about your lovely window. Hopefully it found the perfect spot inside your house!

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  6. It is really coming together. That big porch with overhang is so inviting! You said stairs to come…I realized I hadn't even pictured that and now can't stop thinking about having a trampoline to get up there…

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    1. There was so much ladder climbing - a trampoline would have been an excellent solution!

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  7. It's moving right along and I'm loving watching the progress. It's too bad you couldn't use the window it would have looked great but then again now you don't have to climb up there to wash it right. I think its good that you are so knowledgeable and were on site for this whole process, it makes a big difference. Glad you added the laundry room, its a must!

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    1. Using the laundry facilities + the dishwasher for the first time almost brought me to tears lol...

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  8. Wow. There are just too many things that I would not even think of. Having a full sized laundry room is totally necessary. We had ours in a shed in our yard when we were in CA. It sounds like an odd place, but it was great - lots of room out there and we didn't have to stack them in the kitchen closet in our <1000sf house like we would have otherwise.

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    1. A whole shed dedicated to laundry is a great idea - maybe connected by a breezeway?!

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  9. Absolutely gorgeous! Though what a bummer about the window - but I love your contingency plan to use it inside!

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    1. Sounds like it might have been at risk of leaking - better safe than sorry.

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  10. So amazing seeing the progress on your house and a laundry/Mud room combo sounds awesome. Currently we do laundry on our postage stamp of a back porch and it's uhhhh interesting.

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