August 14th, An obstacle removed

To take you back in time a bit, here is a picture of the back of our house, the north side, before any construction started. The main thing to note is the little house, which looks like a dog house for our big dogs, but is actually the well house. Also note the trees and the propane tank.



This next picture was taken in April. Trees are gone but the well house is still there and so is the tank. Stakes have been put up to mark the outline of the addition.

In this picture, taken in May, the propane tank has been moved, but that darn well house is still there, and from the footings that have been dug, you can see how much in the way it is. Note the back porch roof is gone now too.

And here we are in August and there is no little well house in the way. Of course many other changes are more evident: new garage with second story, new porch, new roof, etc.

This is a close up of the well head, which has to stay there. It will be covered by a specially built box with a removable top, in case the well ever has to be pulled. We found out the well is 320 feet deep. Don't know if that's good or bad, just information. If we want to make the box look more decorative, we can use it as a base for a big potted plant.

The pressure tank, which was the main reason for having a house over the well, has been replaced with a new one and it is now housed in the mechanical room. That big blue thing is the pressure tank and the tank to the left of it is our water softener system.

This is the mechanical room, which will also house the hot water heater and the blower for the heat and air conditioner. That's the new door which was moved to this west side of the room instead of the north side. It should eliminate the problem of water getting into the room.

August 2nd, Changes in the utility room

This little room, which is attached to the west end of the house, is our utility room. Until yesterday, there was a door in that solid wall you can see. It was on the north side of the room and when it rained hard, the rain would come into the room. The floor was too close to the ground where we have a water problem when it rains.


Our clever builder, Rick, decided we should move the door to the west end of the room, and VOILA, by the time I got back from town it was done. Amazing. There's no real door there yet, but you get the idea. I think it will be a much better location for the door. Plus they pulled the old wood burning furnace out and moved the gun safe out, so now we have scads of room in there for whatever. All that remains in the room now are the water softener tank and the hot water tank.


Vince, the concrete guy (and roofer), made the ramp into the garage yesterday. Denis is wetting it done so it will cure properly. Who knew concrete had to "cure". Not me, that's for sure. Notice the BIG dumpster that used to be at the side of the house is now gone. It did a good job for us but I'm glad it's gone.

August 1st, Shingles on the house

Once again, I'm trying to show the shingles on the house roof, but the light just isn't right -- too much sun coming in from the west I guess. Anyway, that's the west end of the house, over the living room.

This shot is from the north, looking at the back porch and kitchen roof. That pile of blocks is what used to be the well house, that I told you was going away. I think the blue tarp is covering the pressure tank which will be moved to the utility room.

July 28th, Shingles finally arrived

Due to the slow down in the building industry, nobody had shingles available when we were ready for them so we had to wait two weeks. Finally they came in and the first thing to be roofed was the old garage, which sits north of our house about 200 feet.

The shingles are primarily green with some other earth tones mixed in. The camera doesn't do a good job of showing the true color. They are pretty though.