Railings and Glazing

Board-and-Batten

I decided I wanted to utilize the "board-and-batten" style of siding for this phase of the project. Boards are nailed vertically, with gaps between them (for expansion/contraction throughout the year). Battens (which are essentially just boards of a much lesser width, 3 inches in this case) are then nailed on top of these to cover the gaps.

I like the look of this siding style. And supposedly it will allow the wood to last much longer than it would in a horizontal orientation, because the rain will be hitting it and running down it parallel to the grain, not perpendicular to it.

I love the look of the rough-sawn pine lumber. Trees have been logged, shipped to the sawmill, cut into boards, and then sold to us. The lumber at Home Depot has gone through all of the same initial steps, but then post-sawmill the lumber is dried in kilns, and then planed down to a very standard size and smooth finish, and then shipped to a store to be sold. That is a lot of processing that we are avoiding! Our wood looks nicer because it has a wider range of color, and grain patterns, and no ugly stamps.

So far we have just gotten the boards nailed up. We want to let them fully dry out on the wall, and then stain them. After staining the boards, we will nail up the battens.

I wired the addition earlier this week. You can see the blue boxes and yellow wires poking through the framing members.

606 Carlton Avenue PHASE 2 (of 3!)

Leo explains to me what needs to get done on any given day. Not yet able to use words that I understand, he expresses his thoughts using precise pencil movements around knots in scrap lumber.

I made a point to avoid using a concrete truck this time around. The footings, piers, and stemwall were all poured from bags. This saved me all of the stress that comes with a concrete truck delivery. And I was also able to design the foundation to utilize a minimal amount of concrete, so it wouldn't have been enough to justify a truck anyhow.

Notice the tapered piers at the bottom left of the photo below. These will hold up the end of the deck.

Floor joists...

We made a new retaining wall out front, using old concrete chunks that I rescued from an architect couple in Chapel Hill who couldn't see the beauty/potential in the material.

Subfloor....

Leo enjoys playing around the worksite when it's safe (like when we're not working). Here he enjoyed his freedom as the only member of the crew who can fit comfortably underneath the floor joists. His cave.

We got the floor joists installed for the deck, and then started framing up the walls (you can see Mike is standing right beside a wall that is ready to be lifted).

Walls up in a day or so!

Rafters! Here you can see the framing for the "mudroom," which is the small room that you will enter the house through. It will be a cozy nook to take off your boots, hang up your coat, brush off your snow, and then enter the living room.

Here is the set of steps that leads from the deck down to what used to be the "steps-to-nowhere," which we poured last year. There will be a railing eventually, but probably not until the very end of things.

I don't have an updated photo. Right now it's covered in black tar paper, and is ready for the metal roofing and the locally-sawn pine siding. This next week we're going to finish the siding, install the roofing, and rough-in the electrical wiring!