Siding continued

I worked with Jerry for three days this week measuring, cutting, and installing Hardie cement fiber siding. It has the look of overlapping wood without the problem of wood rot. Very tedious to cut out around the windows since they are not perfect rectangles. This is really looking good.

We plan on doing some type of shingle pattern up in the gable.

Back next week for more.

House gets new siding

We just returned from four days at the beach. The roof is on and the house is "dried in".
 The front porch  decking was our first job . We had previously purchased  the 4" tongue and groove  boards and primed them in anticipation of redoing the deck. The addition of paint made for a very tight fit and this turned out to be a bigger job than we had anticipated. No pictures, but it looks great.
Applying the hardi - board siding began this week and the house is really  beginning to look finished (from the outside :0) The siding comes in a gold color which will eventually get painted.
Lots of work remaining  to do on the inside.
Julie and I installed  the electrical boxes throughout the house  that will eventually contain the light switches, electrical outlets, and smoke detectors. Lots of thinking and planning for this. We then drilled holes through the 2x4 studs to "run the wire" to the various boxes. Next week we will run the wire to all of the outlets.

THe historic salvaged windows were installed in the gable of the front of the house. THis gives that part of the house a nice look and lets more light into the living room.

While there, managed a swim in the ocean to cap off each day. What a great feeling. Our dog Dirk enjoyed the beach as much as we did.

Preparing the windows

Today is Fathers Day 2014, and if I cannot be with my children, what better way to spend the day than with my wife working  on our beach cottage.
Got up at the crack of dawn and drove over to NewSmyrna Beach.
Spent most of the day stripping paint off of the old windows so that they can be primed and painted before the siding is installed next to them.

                                                               Julie stripping   paint

Removed window to strip and replace sash cords and weights

After a long day, took a nice walk on the beach

The house gets a roof

The roof trusses have now been built on site and the plywood roof surface has been installed. Really starting to look like a house.
Window and door installation will be next.

                                      Framing over kitchen with vaulted ceiling

Laying sheets of coated plywood

                                           View from the East

View of the kitchen door and overhang

Porch over master bedroom

Front showing both porches. The taped boxes in the gable are where two architectural salvaged windows will go.

Cutting new glass to restore old salvaged windows to go in gable.

New Smyrna Beach map

Thought it would be nice to add a map of the beach area with a red star showing our location in reference to the island).
 The green area at the top is Smyrna Dunes Park, 73 acres of pristine dunes with a dog friendly beach. This makes our "Dirk" dog very happy(no driving on this beach).
 Lots of mangrove islands in the intracoastal waterway for fishing and kayaking.
 The south end of the island becomes the Canaveral National Seashore, which is 8 miles of untouched beaches and dunes(no driving on this beach). South of that is Cape Canaveral (Cape Kennedy) and is restricted for NASA use.
 The public beaches are hard packed which allows you to ride your bicycles on the beach (everywhere) and drive your cars in certain areas. Allowing the driving of cars on the public beach area creates a five  mile beach front parking lot.

New slab and walls

The last week has been pretty busy. The concrete slab for the new addition was poured and the new walls are beginning to go up :0)

The existing front porch also got beefed up in preparation for a new tongue and groove porch deck.

Julie and I built a bulkhead petition that will isolate the living room vaulted ceiling from the rest of the attic.

More demolition and footers

The last two weeks have been busy. Our contractor and his crew dug and poured footers and built the stem wall. Compacting soil was brought in and compressed to prepare for the slab to be pored.

The house was stripped of it's lattice wood strips and covered with plywood  to prepare for new hardi plank siding. This created some interesting photo opportunities :0) The southern light coming in the open gable is a glimpse of the future. This area will be closed in with plywood for now and later have two gable windows added for an additional light source in the living room.

This area is in the process of becoming our guest bathroom. I have removed a 3'x4' section of floor and replaced it with pressure treated plywood to become the base of the walk in shower. Notice the light coming through the wood lattice strips.

This is a current view of the front of the house after the screen was removed from the porch. The screen and trim were temporarily removed to allow replacement of the tongue and groove wood porch flooring.

Julie removing old plaster from the front porch.