The Continuing Whirlwind of Home Improvement!

The wedding (last post) was the item that drove our schedule for this visit, but was not the main task to accomplish.  Living in an 80 year old structure, there is always something that needs doing, and we've literally been stripping the place down with some major rebuilds as our time permits.  This last winter was the last straw when the leaky roof started dripping on our new wood floors!  Time for a new roof!

But before we could do that, other repairs had to be made.  As we go through room-by-room making improvements, we've been having a carpenter replace or strengthen roof joists as we pull down ceilings to add insulation.  With the roofers scheduled for mid-July, we had 2 rooms left to pull down ceilings and replace lumber - the kitchen and guest room.  Fortunately, we have a sister-in-law that is part-time contractor for us, and makes time to work on our home improvement projects when we're out of town.  It is like having elves coming in while we're away to do the work!  Maj tore down the ceilings, removed what insulation there was, and allowed the carpenter to make the roofing upgrades from below.  He also added fascia at the ends of the rafters to attach rain gutters.  Maj also got us estimates for the roofers and identified with whom she was most comfortable.

So our first order of business after the wedding was to paint the fascia before roofing and gutters blocked them.  Good weather held, and 2 coats in 2 days got the job behind us and allowed us to move inside.  Seen here is the ceiling, now removed, with the rafters strengthened.  Maj left some of the work to us - first order was removal of the drywall, then the old insulation before running wiring for new outlets, switches and a ceiling fan.  Fortunately, Melinda has gotten a lot of experience in wiring this place, and is an old hand with this sort of thing.  We also ran a video line for a TV that will eventually be installed in the room too.

And with that work, new insulation was installed.  The latest picture this morning shows that installation.  The girls are working on the ceiling fan this afternoon and it will be pretty much complete and ready for new wall and ceiling treatments, which will likely continue into next trip.  Unless the elves show up again in our absence...

(Melinda's comment!) So that no one thinks that Dean is a slacker in all of this, we have been keeping him fairly busy at work also!  A few years ago Dean and I reglazed the windows in the sunroom (of this house).  He showed tremendous talent for that task, and of course is a 'natural' when working with glass.  Our guest room has three windows - all in need of serious work.  Dean has spent the past week (while Maj and I were having fun playing with electricity and such) scraping, replacing glass, and reglazing the windows...let's see.... 3 windows with 4 panes in each... he's been busy!