JOISTS!!!

Well, the first TJI joist is in -- I really need to figure out what that stands for. I've also heard James say "LVL" and "I-beam".  Well, whatever it is, it's in!  (The first of many)

It required a little more support prep work...

some muscles...

and it's in!

BEAUTIFUL!!

James JoistWalker

Well, James has gotten just about all of the floor off upstairs, has removed several joists, and is ready to start cutting into the ceiling.  YAY!  It's a good thing this crazy man has 15 years experience walking rafters up in the air.  He's going to have to do a lot of balancing to avoid coming through the ceiling!

And the mess begins...

Wait, I know, you're thinking, "What do you mean it 'begins'?"  Yes, we live in a mess, but yesterday was a mess like no other. We started by removing furniture and draping the rest.  We even used a handy sheet to prevent the dust from heading down the hall.

Next came the fan...

supervised closely by Gwyn...

Next came some additional draping (and a little scaring...)

Then the destruction began...

When it was all said and done (for the day), we've got a nice hole in the living room ceiling...

AND, a giant mess (which my good man cleaned up quite thoroughly!)

Now, our coughing has subsided for a while, and we've moved on... More tomorrow...

The "Beam" that Wasn't

Okay, see that white "beam" across the doorway?  James has insisted from the beginning that it was pointless structurally (and aesthetically for that matter). The nice inspector-man insisted, "Oh, that's totally structural." Whom do we believe?? 

In preparation for tearing out the ceiling, James tore into this piece of work -- and it's purely NOTHING.  Love it.  Not sure why they put it up, but it's gone now...

Can you picture it???

Much of what we do around here these days is imagining what something's going to look like or where it's going or how big or how small or what or when or where or even why.  Join us in looking ahead... :-)

the bathroom!

the playroom and bedrooms!

front of the guest closet!

entryway from garage!

Construction 101

Nephews Daniel and Stephen joined James last week for a session of contruction training. But no power tools yet. Just de-nailing boards and cleaning up.  I hope they had fun!

Stephen learning the all-important art of flashlight-holding

Looking down the stairs -- the floor is slowly dissapearing!

Just pictures (trying to keep track!)

 a hole James cut in the laundry room/stairwell ceiling to put some more rafters in place

looking up the stairwell, ceiling gone, dust everywhere

one of many rafters he has installed

where he can usually be found -- back in the walls somewhere

piles of "itchy"

the upstairs closet, with art of the wall removed (next to stairwell)