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Sorry everyone for the lack of updates. I am so busy right now with the house, my business, and my full-time job that I barely have time to do anything. This is the best I have right now..
We decided to enlarge the Master Bedroom, add a Walk-In closet, and also enlarge the Master Bath.
We added Fir Beams where where we removed the wall that separated the Kitchen and Living Room. This will give it an open feel which we wanted when we began house hunting. If it isn't there, make it.. I think those are the exact words that my Dad hates hearing me say.. =/
We decided to replace much of the existing Fernco Plumbing once we moved some of the plumbing around. We figured we might as well do it now while we have my Dad here to help. He liked the idea also!.. We think...
New Windows from National Home Center. Which we will never shop at again and do not recommend to anyone! Not only did our windows arrive scratched up (please let us scratch up our own windows), the largest and most expensive custom window was milled incorrectly, upside down, and to the wrong window. WOW.. We are still waiting on them to get us the correct window.
Chuck working away, before the haircut and one of the only times I think he wears his mask!
This is our latest issue. We are not sure what the original builder was thinking, or how I missed this during the inspection but much of the water damage under the house was from this. The house stops short of the brick and with an horrible attempt at flashing (installed over the siding and with nails shot through it) the house. This extends down the entire front of the house and the side.This is not something we anticipated but Dad came up with a great idea of building a cantilever on the front of the house (which you will see in my sketch up model to come). Luckily this will be easier and cheaper (not by much) than building out the entire front and left side of the house to extend over the brick.
For those who haven't seen me in a while, the stress of the house has made me lose all my hair..... kidding..
The original floors were saturated with the smell of Cat Urine so we replaced both layers of subflooring in the house. Again another unforeseen cost. I thought for sure we could get it out, but again decided it was better to be safe and replace it all. It gets pretty humid around here, and if you have ever smelled cat pee when its humid.... you know its pretty wretched..
Amanda has really got her hands dirty with the house and proven to be an invaluable help for both me and my Dad. She has taken to Construction and even wowed us with her willing to learn. Now she is spouting off all kinds of knowledge when we are away from the house and she sees something she knows. Its been a wonderful experience for everyone.
Unfortunately I only snapped pictures of her supervising... =)
Here is another picture of the replaced flooring, followed by some pictures of how bad the water damage was on the existing flooring. You can see why we replaced everything.
Once we opened the walls up I opted to go ahead and replace all of the existing Isulation. Its amazing to see what R-13 was then and is now. I went with R-15 (which isn't easy to find around here). I figure you only have one shot to replace it.
Here is a shot of my Dad crawling around in the smallest part of the attic cussing me while putting a Recessed Light in. Love ya Dad!
Below is a mock up of the Cantilever. We will be covering it with a Standing -Seam Metal Roof but wanted to get an idea of what it and the pitch would look like.
New Smaller Bedroom and Office Windows installed as well as ugly temporary siding. Wow that looks bad.
The relatively low sloped roof doesn't lend much room in the attic for installing the Recessed lighting as well as any other items that need to be addressed in there. The spray in "Dirt" insulation(as my Dad likes to call it) doesnt make anything easier. I think that insulation has called him to cuss more than anything else at this point..
Here is a side-by-side comparison of before and after (hopefully after). 
Trying our best to to button it back up before the end of the night. I am sure our neighbors are not amused at us sawing and nailing at 1am. 
All of the new siding on tie fir out is temporary, we just needed something to go up in between now and next spring as we are putting up all new cladding on the entire house then. This particular siding will be replaced with SIL-LEED Fiber Cement Siding. The rest of the house will be done in Hardie Plank Siding. The patchwork quilt of existing siding we currently have up as well as the new siding are just there to last a few seasons. The older siding will however get a coat of paint as I dont think myself or my neighbors can live with looking at the kaleidoscope even that long.
I will get some additional pictures up up soon after we get a new door slab (the one pictured was defective along with the one for the back door) and get the slab painted. The first rain after getting the wall constucted caused the door to leak around the window. Lowes sent an inspector out who determined the door was milled incorrectly, and a new door slab was needed. Lowes then tried to weasel out of being responsible for the door slab being that they didnt install the door.. How the door slab has anything to do with installation (which was dne correctly btw), is a puzzle for me, my father, and the inspector. At the end of the day they decided to order new slabs... So we wait, and hope these are milled correctly..
New Smaller Bedroom and Office Windows installed as well as ugly temporary siding. Wow that looks bad.
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