and then, there was a new room!

Boy, what a busy week. We went from a very wet slab and muddy garage to what the neighbors are now stopping to look at - a house!

In the interim, we had a discussion about windows and header beams, and learned a lot about tile and vanity counters and bathroom floors and shower accessories, and spent an afternoon at Ferguson's picking out faucets and shower heads (did you know the Germans now market a shower head that infuses air into the nozzle, so you think you're getting a full lush waterfall type shower, but it uses much less water, thus being "green?") And also vanity bowls and toilets and a regular shower for the euphemistically called guest bath in the hall.
But we are too late to put in graywater drains, which I had mentioned to Bill at the very beginning, and even bought the Green Goods book on how to install a system and given it to him, but then forgot to nag him about. Can't have everything. Probably couldn't have afforded it anyway!
Tuesday it rained again, and leaked again, only in different places this time, and the huge noisy fan is still blowing for as many hours as we can stand it to try to dry out under everything in the garage. The roof, needless to say, got re-sealed and re-tarped again - major preventive work. But, of course it hasn't rained since.
Thursday, the pile of lumber and nails got delivered and piled up along the side of the garage and the front door - "that's our house in its native state," says Gary. The crew worked all day measuring and cutting and nailing the framing for the walls, and by Friday afternoon, the pile of lumber and nails had been transformed into a framed room, connected to the old room, with the window and door cutouts in place, the shower walls up. Hopefully you can see some of that in the video. To get to that point, they tore out the old bathroom (saving the fixtures for ReStore) and the walls, and pieces of the roof/ceiling, because they have to put in new uprights to tie in the new and the old part and the roof etc.
So now the old room has big holes in it - biggest being the entire door and frame. The crew is storing their tools and equipment in our bedroom!









On both sides of the new shower are specially designed beams for earthquakes (see pics). so we'll be prepared for the next earthquake - everyone gets in the shower!

Next week the roof trusses come!

gratuitous art shots:











the crew had worked so hard all week, we bought them pizzas at lunch. Note the expensive, thick, special header beam they're using as a table!