First floor framing

Holiday weekends are great.  Extra time off work, extra family time, extra processed meats... We spent our holiday weekend at the HWCV working on little projects around the farm.  

This weekend we got to see the progress on the house and all of the first floor framing is done.  The subfloor for the second floor is in place, too, which provided a ceiling for the first floor and gave us a better sense of how the spaces will feel.  Here are some highlights!

The front of the house looks a bit better.  Above the front door will be open to the ceiling of the second floor and there will be a dormer window that will allow light in that space.  Props to my dad for that suggestion.  

Pantry is framed in.  I am excited about a big pantry with a window and a pocket door that will rarely get closed.  The framing has horizontal boards to accomodate the pocket door.  Per my friend Teresa's suggestion, I think I will put a little counter as a "mom's workspace" below that window to place my laptop and mail.  

The master bath is framed in - here is the massive walk-in shower.  The whole family fits...but we won't take family showers.  We are weird, but we aren't that type of weird.

Mike and the three oldest kids climbed onto the second floor where their bedrooms will be located. He is standing in the future bonus room space above the garage.  The chimney on the far end will have to be raised to code (the fireplace is in the basement.)  

Hopefully the next post will show second story framing!

  

Walls!

I've never been so excited about walls.  It means the house we have dreamed about for years is finally coming together!

The new subfloor is in place and the center wall has been set.

Our laundry room is framed.

And the half bath.

Lumber = Excitement

Tornado effect

Why did we purposefully make our house look like it was hit by a tornado? I was hoping for open plan, but now we have open-air!

This is where the stairs to the basement were.  They will be moving location to accomodate the open floor plan.

Tarp to help protect area where mechanicals are located in basement.  

This week the rest of the garage roof will be removed.  Then new subfloor will be installed since the old wasn't sufficient - it was 1/2" plywood topped by particle board.  Then the framing of the new structure will begin!  And hopefully we can pack away the winter coats for good.  

Demolition

Sometimes things get worse before they get better.

April 27: Kitchen cabinets removed, carpet removed.

 

April 30: Drywall starts coming out, bathroom demo.

May 4: Ceiling removed- that's all of the old insulation on the ground.

May 7: All of the wiring has been removed and only the supporting walls remain.

May 10: Goodbye front porch.

May 12: Now, that's a skylight!  I actually haven't seen this yet.  These photos courtesy of Mike's uncle.

More to come....

What's the plan?

Behold, the house with cat vomit:

 

The existing 2 bedroom, 1.5 bath layout didn't suit our large family.

Plus the electrical wiring and plumbing needed to be totally replaced.

And we didn't love the existing layout.

So...we are changing things up...ALOT!

Behold, the plan! 

 

 

We are adding a second story to create a 4 bedroom, 3.5 bath house with open plan living/kitchen/dining on the main floor.  The only things remaining the same are the 4 exterior walls and the placement of windows and doors.  It's a BIG job, and we are excited that we have a great contractor to do the job for us! 



About the property

The HWCV sits on 19 acres in east central Indiana.  We are surrounded by tillable farm land that Mike's dad owns and farms.  There is a frame barn, a pole barn, a large equipment shed and three smaller out-buildings (including a manly workshop for Mike and a future chicken coop).  There is a large fenced and semi-wooded pasture, a pond, a large yard to mow, and a lot of trees. 

Because every place has to have a name

Almost three years ago, my FIL approached us about a farm that he was purchasing.  He was interested in the tillable land, but asked if we would be interested in the house.  We really liked the property, so we went to look at the house.  The (elderly) former owner was in the hospital at the time and someone was taking care of her cat for her.  When we walked through the house, there was a small area in the hall where the cat had vomited.  As we discussed the house with our kids thereafter, they would always ask, "That was the house with cat vomit, right?"  And so the name stuck.  When the time came to buy it from my in-laws, we sat down with the kids to discuss the coming changes.  We asked them, "what do you want to call the house until we can call it home?"  We discussed several options, but in the end, decided to call it "The House With Cat Vomit." And as my MIL's friend recently said, "Well...every place has to have some name."