I Guess This is What it Feels Like to Build a House in Antarctica!

Unfortunately Bill, who was supposed to come visit on the last weekend in January, didn't make it out, and neither did the wall anchors Ryan was planning to secure before dismantling the back wall. Despite this change in schedule, he went ahead and framed the rest of the first floor back addition that we had started with Pete the weekend before. The sun-room is a pretty exciting room for us design-wise. The back wall is going to be mostly windows. We explored the options based on efficiency and price and what we decided on is five windows vertical windows on the back wall, barely spaced, measuring 24 x 64". On the south side of the house are two more of the high horizontal windows that won't require window coverings and on the south facing side is one horizontal window and one double sliding glass door that will lead out to a deck.

Ryan devised a plan B so that he could continue to build the addition without anchoring the walls first. he punched through the brick wall, rather than dismantling the whole thing and secured floor joists to tie the kitchen ceiling to the ceiling of the first floor back addition. Next, he took down the rest of the chimney on the back wall of the house, just to where the ceiling of the second floor of the addition will be. With the gable end open, he patched the roof and added an overhang, which will protect the gable end from harsh weather, and added a beam across the end of the house with another horizontal window above it to let lots of light into the master bedroom.

Mark arrived for the third time a few days into the coldest weather Pennsylvania has seen since the winter of 2000. Ryan had gotten one wall of the second floor up on Saturday and then despite the frigid conditions, Ryan and Mark worked last Sunday on framing the second floor addition. Yet again, our friends cease to amaze us. The second floor addition does not just sit on the footprint of the first floor. It's the extension of the master-bedroom which will include a built-in desk/bookshelf nook facing the backyard and the master-bathroom which will both flank a small deck that was also framed, and is carved out as a nook itself, with exterior house walls on each side. The master-bedroom deck will only be exposed on the West side of the house, creating a private and sunny spot on the second floor.

Due to the conditions, Ryan was pretty much forced to take Monday and Tuesday off of work at the Zeller House. With some extra time on his hands that he wanted to devote to house research, Ryan did some checking and decided to switch our window choice from Anderson to Pella. We had originally thought that Pella was going to be out of our price range, but it turns out that they make a product of comparable price to the Anderson line we had picked out that have Low E, argon filled glass, which basically means it's more insulating and therefore higher efficiency. We're really excited to make this change, because we weren't happy that because of money we might have to settle for a less efficient window.

On Wednesday Ryan traveled to Baltimore to check out a construction supply re-use and salvage warehouse. He had checked the web site and been in touch with the manager about some large, highly insulated windows that measured 55 x 75". We had discussed using them in the back sun-room, the master bedroom and even below the gable facing the back of the house. The best part is that because they were salvaged, they were only ten dollars a piece! So, Ryan rented a U-Haul trailer, hitched it up to his truck and made the three hour drive South only to discover, once he got to Baltimore, that the windows were tinted very dark, like you might see on a skyscraper with an all-glass exterior. You get the idea...not appropriate for our house. So the trip was a disappointment, but Ryan did pick up one, large window that we should be able to use in the master bedroom.

By today, Thursday, the temperatures had risen so that the high was in the teens or low twenties, but the wind was the strongest it has been, taking your breath away every chance it got. Ryan had been away from the house for three days, though, so he decided to brave the conditions and finish framing the second floor. He plans to get the second floor sheeted, wrapped and roofed as soon as possible.

The next guests on the list are my parents who haven't been to visit since before we closed on the house, so it will be neat to see the impressions of people who haven't seen the place in five months. Hopefully the weather will ease up a bit and we can put them to work!

Be sure to click on the link to our photo gallery, there are some good new pictures of the framing up.