ROCKING OUT

We started thismorning finishing up as much as we could on the left side of the front porch... Then the sun became too much so we decided to go inside. We worked on hanging the mantel of the fireplace after Tommy cut it to length. Tom's dad had welded us some brackets a few days ago so that we could drill holes into the back of the mantel and the brackets would slide into the holes and all we have to do is screw the brackets to the studs... It worked pretty good. Then we made a bucket of mortar and put up a majority of the corners on the fireplace... When we were done with that the shade was back out on the front of the house so we went back out and started the right side of the porch, we got two big batches of mortar finished before it got to dark...

While we were outside a few hot air balloons came over the house. Hooper is freaked out by them. They make a "dragon breathing" noise from the propane torch and it scares him to death... He stares at it for a little while and then he runs inside! poor baby!

ROCKIN'

We had some helpers today... Tommy and I got up pretty early this morning because we were excited about the stone veneer... We continued from what we laid last night and got about 2/3 of the way to the end of the garage before Tom's Dad and Uncle came with Tommy's new table saw. They drove to PA to pick it up this morning. It is a nice big JET table saw... yay! Tom's dad set Wojcio up with some mortar to put a smooth coat of mortar on the basement side of the house. We though we were going to have stone over there so we had the masons do a scratch coat, but we decided against stone there so we had to have a smooth layer of mortar put on. He did a great job! Tom's dad put the 1x6 along the bottom of the house which made a big difference... Mark came by to help out also... he did the two top windows for us and they came out great (eventually haha!). Tommy and I worked all day on the stone veneer in and out of making sure everyone else had what they needed and got almost to the front steps... We probably need one more batch or mortar to finish it up. Before everyone went home they carried in and laid down the limestone for the fireplace hearth...

SIDE PORCH SLATE

Tonight after work we started the tile on the side porch. We got about 3 feet done tonight... it may take a little longer than expected... Each piece of slate is different thickness so it is a little bit of a pain in the butt at times.

FRONT PORCH SLATE III

Tonight we worked some more on the front porch slate. We are almost finished but worked ourselves into a corner so we will have to wait for it to try a little before we can finish.

Started thinking about railing for the front stairs and we aren't sure what we want to do... We have two lengths of trex railing we could use and we were thinking of building a 18"x18" post with the stone around it, but it isn't quite working out so we have to think about it a little bit more.

Tom's parents were here today and moved the boxes of rocks that Tom's mom loaded yesterday to the back yard and then they moved all the larger rocks too... It looks so much different. Tom's dad also built the base for the fireplace hearth...

FRONT PORCH SLATE II

Today Tom's mom was here and she picked up all the hand sized rocks or smaller and loaded them into boxes on pallets. She got all the river rock loaded into boxes and fended off the snakes while doing so... YUCK!

When we got home we laid more slate on the front porch... the slate is a PAIN, but I think it looks great!

FRONT PORCH SLATE I

It was raining outside thismorning so we went back inside to the master bath. Tommy worked on the mosaic around the shower jets and then he put a band of kerdi around the entire shower floor.
Meanwhile I finished up some of the tile around the vanity and put some tiles around the windows over the tub.

When it got nicer we cut tile for the front porch and started to lay it... It looks pretty good... love the pattern too!

EXTERIOR WINDOW MOLDING

We went down the Marvic Supply this morning and picked up some AZEK molding for the windows on the front of the house. We are doing something similar to what we did on the interior...

Before we got to start the trimwork Tom's dad came down and helped us to pour the concrete on the side porch... The tractor works pretty good to lift the trough thingy up to the porch height... We finished that in a couple hours...

Then we pressure washed some of the older pieces of AZEK we had and Tommy started to put them on the windows on the garage... I think it looks great. We need to find another piece of something to put under the windows because it looks a little unfinished...

FRONT PORCH CONCRETE

After work today we poured some concrete on the front porch. They call it a concrete overlay... We made a really soupy mixture of cement and sand and painted the concrete already on the porch and then we poured new concrete about 2 inches thick on top of it. We needed to do this because we put the limestone on the edges and so in order to put the slate tile we needed to raise it a bit. We used the tractor to lift the concrete trough thingy up to the edge of the front porch so we could just scoop it out with shovels instead of trying to carry buckets...

LIMESTONE

After work today Tom and his dad put the limestone on the edge of the side porch.

Tom's mom and I sealed the slate and stacked it up.

STAIR TREADS

We gave Tom's dad a list of measurements for the stair treads we needed. He went today and purchased limestone treads and limestone for the edges of the porches. Afterwork they mixed up the mud and laid the stair treads on the front steps.

Tom's mom and I took out all the slate boxes, opened them up, and hosed them off to prepare them for sealer.

I ordered the stone veneer for the front of the house today... It could come in anywhere from days to 2 weeks from now.

STONE VENEER

Tonight we stopped at H.K. Buzby in Lebanon (a masonry place) and chose the stone for the front of the house. We will probably order from another, much cheaper place, but Buzby has all the samples that you can put a deposit down on so you can take it home and check it out.

When we got home Tom laid the second half of the kerdi on the floor of the master shower.

FRONT STAIR BLOCKWORK

Today the front stairs were finished. Tom and his dad finished laying the blocks. Tom's mom searched for rocks to fill the cores with and then they filled them with mortar. We ended up with 5 risers and 4 treads. We can finally use the FRONT DOOR!






Meanwhile I worked inside. I put tile on the wall behind the vanity, but I ran out of the border material and eventhough I went to Home Depot to get that and more glue they boys were using the levels so I decided to leave it off. Instead I grouted the curved wall. It was scary putting the grout on because that quartzite tile is rough and it seemed like the grout would never come off because it turned the quartzite white, but it did and it looks good.

MASTER BATH - TILE

Today we spent the day in the master bathroom... Tommy put one half of the kerdi on the floor of the shower... meanwhile, I worked on grouting walls and got 3 more short walls finished...

Then we went to Home Depot to pick up some more tiles and turned out that we left with a range hood as well. It was regularly 400 bucks and we got it for 100. It is actually all stainless and supposed to be "seen" but I don't like that look so we will build it into the cabinets up the range... love home depot deals.

When we got back we cut up 200 more 4"x4" tiles so that we can finish up the walls. Tommy cut while I filed the edges.

Then we went back upstairs and we put the sill going into the shower... finished up the tile on the curved wall, put some more tile on the kerdi wall going toward the shower... Tommy did some of the more difficult cuts that I left off around outlets the other day and started to work on a removable access panel.

FRONT STAIRS

Today Tom's dad came over and worked with Tommy on the block for the front stairs. By mid afternoon they had already laid the first three rows to get to the first step.

Meanwhile I finished up some tile around the windows in the master bathroom and grouted 3 short walls in the toilet room...