dance floor anyone?

won't write much, but more progress today. Beautiful sunny Vancouver day today and if you climb down into the basement, it's almost dark (meaning there's an floor above it!).





Bogdan is back tomorrow....yes, he works saturdays.

even bigger progress!

drove by, as promised, after work and to my amazement, saw more than 1/2 the main floor framed. Everybody said that once the framers start, they'll motor...and they are. Not going to write much as I'm bagged...but here is the evidence!

big progress!

drove by 581 this morning (early) and was pretty happy to see all the exterioir 'foundation' walls are up. I can imagine driving by tonight AFTER work will make me even happier. Today was the first day I could really see the size of the house (big) and the size of the basement/basement suite we're thinking of putting in.
Rent is at a premium in Vancouver, and we'd likely be wise to invest in a nice little 1 bedroom basement suite and rent it out. $560/month knocks $100K off your mortgage, and I suspect we'd get $1200 for the apartment...makes sense I think.

The weather has been cooperating too, no rain, only sun. A tad overcast today, but we're past the "please don't rain" part of building. A huge hole in the ground with no drain tiles can quickly become a an expensive-to-drain swimming pool.

I'll post another pic or 3 tonight when I drive by 581.

M

Another day, another Bogdan

drove by after work today and the garage forms are off and we have garage foundation.


Another 'wall' went up on the east side of the house today, and a wack of lumber was dropped off, meaning the framing is moving along well. Bogdan (the framer) says in 2 weeks we'll be ready for roof trusses. Hopefully he's accurate.
Other than that, one of the huge, old rhododendrons we had
(the only things we kept from the old house...sad eh) was dug up and moved to accomodate the massive 'digger' (that's what Maddie..and virutally every kid calls a....uhhh.....digger). Anyhow, the rhodo is sitting on a huge clump of dirt, but I'll have to move it somehow and plant it back in the ground.



ok...back to the wife...more to come!

Monday...framing day 1.

Bogden was back today (actually, last week) to form the garage while we waited for City Hall to get off their City Ass about some revisions we made (re; the elevations). He formed the garage, and when I drove by tonight (en route for Blizzards for the Jen and me) the concrete was poured.
Also, the first 1/2 wall is framed on the house...progress is finally being made.

I wish we'd saved a couple old beams out of the old house, but the crusher-style demo they do now (the crush the house into tiny piece as opposed to hauling it away in 23 dump trucks, the literally mulch the house so it leaves in 2 trucks...cool).

The beams were toast...but really, that'd be the only thing I would have wanted in the old house...not even a piece of hardwood flooring! Seriously, not a door, not a railing, not even ONE old leaded window. The house was horridly ugly.

Anyhow, the garage is cemented, the house is being framed...it's a good day at 581..

and the Blizzards were good to, but man, DQ has some serious trans fats in their menu.

nighty night.

The building of 581 is really starting?!

so, here in a nutshell is the goings on at 581.

We tore the house down, dug out the old foundation, hired a framer to do the forming/framing of the house. He's doing Dave and Sheryl's shack around the corner and came recommended. He formed the foundation, cement was poured when we then realized, maybe a little late, that the front eleveations were off. One side was 204' and the other 200'. I'm not sure how 200 feet comes into play, but what I do know is that one side of our property is 4 feet higher than the other side.  We were to have 5 steps UP to our new house but had we not caught the error, we would have had a couple steps DOWN to the house...that would have been slightly uncool.

To remedy, we are building a higher basement (framing, not concrete) so we'll have 9'+ ceilings in the basement to accomodate. Should give us a couple steps up which is fine.

waiting for the foundation to be poured for the garage...2 car BIG garage...

the first...delayed entry.

We've torn down a 1912 house with no charm, no character, no history, no redeeming qualities whatsoever

It's time to build a new home to house our growing family. Marc, Jennifer, Madeleine and her new little brother Cash can't wait to get back home. We're onto sublet #3 right now and are hoping (hi Darren) that the current lease-holders delay their return to the West Coast. If not, it's a month or 2 of another sublet come September. Anybody know someone with a furnished place in Vancouver that'll be empty from Sept 15 - Dec 1st?

I'm beat...ganight.