Endless Summer

Well at the suggestion of our friends, Sandra & Juergen, Mary-Lynn & John, in lieu of renaming the blog, summerandautumnrenovation.com, we will just say that we are living in an Endless Summer.
In the mean time, take a look at the gorgeous main floor with painting all done and floor finished. The picture of the outside was taken today (October 17, 2010). The grey `cement' goes on both underneath and overtop of the white styrofoam.

Raindrops keep falling on our heads..

What's wrong with these pictures? The left one, with the hardwood completed under the protective paper, was taken earlier than the one at right. The plumber, unfortunately, did not close off the small hose on the left wall (destined to be a `tea station' -- or `bar', depending on whether you are female or male, respectively). The result was a flood all over the hardwood, which then warped and had to be ripped up again. At the time of writing, we are waiting for new hardwood, since the replacement batch that was sent didn't match exactly.

In the mean time, we can now use the kitchen on the main floor again (woo-hoo!). Slight problem in that the plumber forgot to connect the dishwasher, resulting in a flood -- the indoor rain fell into the downstairs bathroom through the door jamb and the closet ceiling. No permanent harm done (we think) and the dishwasher is now happily connected again.

One Thing leads to Another

The deck, which we thought could be saved, was a little too rickety. Out it goes! Brian, who has been working hard on the renovation, has done a beautiful job on the deck (and plenty of other finishing touches). Today is Thanksgiving, the Sunset Stucco guys are here working, and we have much to be thankful for.

Stucco unstuck!

After many weeks with only plywood on the house, we learned that the original stucco company that had bid on the project was no longer interested in carrying it out. A last minute scramble to find someone else who could do it led to Sunset Stucco (who are awesome and work on weekends even). Check out their rig and the transformation of the house. The house must about R-infinity by the time they finish. Consider the layers on the front from the inside out: drywall, then thick foam insulation, then plywood, then a kind of grey cement layer, then styrofoam, then another layer of grey cement, then (we think but it hasn't happened yet) the layer of colour. Many tiny flecks of styrofoam sprinkle down from above, making it look like it's snowing. There always seems to be someone outside of a window! Well never mind about privacy -- we're thrilled that progress is being made while the weather is still good. The roof railing is up too, except for the glass.