Thursday, December 20, 2007

Rolling along in Floyd

After only a small amount of progress on the house in Floyd County, things seem to be starting to roll. While we have gotten the driveway finished via Dexter and his backhoe, and Steve from Bugman treated the whole house to keep out the critters and protect our logs, it has taken some time to get roofers, chimney & stove experts, siders, etc. nailed down, as you want to get the right people and the right products all lined up for a successful job! It now seems that we have these folks starting soon now, too!
Joe Bowman, our roofer, is going to do black 50-year dimensional shingles, a new skylight, new flashing, and make sure we have no leaks, and thus no worries. There is a saying that the easiest way to bring down a barn is to cut an 18-inch hole in the roof, and just wait... So a good roof is critical to the longevity and health of any structure. We have to get some logs that were damaged by water getting into the old, poorly-done flashing repaired before the Joe can start, but hopefully we will get that done in the next two weeks when Kelly the Carpenter/Sider gets out there. Kelly, the Sider/Carpenter is going out on Saturday to check out what parts of the house needs to be sided, where the roof may need to be extended, logs that need to be repaired, and all the guttering that will need to be put on the house to keep the walls dry.

The stove installer Brian is getting together what we will need to put up a new double-walled pipe chimney and get a Jotul 500 wood stove put into the living room over the next two weeks. Soon we will be warm and toasty in the house-that model stove can heat 2400 square feet by itself, and we have years of downed wood to use to fuel it! I think Santa might be bringing a chain saw this year...
Once we get these things done, the house will be really ready to enjoy more fully. We will still need to treat and seal the logs to keep them protected for many years to come, but that seems to be done when the weather gets warmer, so it will wait until a new season turns the corner. There are lots of cosmetic projects, small changes we will make, and as usual a few things that we will find that need to be done as we go along (that is ALWAYS the way). We will do all of these things and bring out the unique nature of this property!

I will document the progress of the projects, big and small, so that I have a good record of the changes. We did all of this with the house we have in Goochland, but I do not have pictures of the before and after. I know how drastically different is has become, but it is harder to appreciate when all you have to look back on is in the mind's eye... this time, I want to do this right and carefully document the progress so I can look back anytime I want and enjoy the changes we have made!

No comments: