New and old house construction

Last winter I started shooting photos of the work across the street, whenever I noticed any big changes. In February it all started, and I shared HERE.

Feb 2013, nice woodsy camouflage to derelict house.

Ten days later HERE much of the weedy undergrowth had been cleared, as well as an extraneous concrete building.

By the beginning of March, tree removal was in full swing as I showed HERE.  This tree was 150 years old, but diseased in places.

March 19, the old kitchen wing had been removed and a new one was begun.  The huge stump remained through the summer.

End of march and a second floor was added to the new kitchen wing.

One of my biggest complaints about this neighbor was a garage facing my front door, open and full of junk.

  Here were a couple May's shots: 

The daffodils have all be shoveled away after these last photos of their blooms at the front side of the house.

The old windows were removed, and new ones hung...

New walls, new roof, new windows. ..new paint outside, and I stopped going inside when the doors were installed.

And the chimney was refaced with stone, almost all the way up.

On Dec 8 there's a new foundation dug and concrete poured in the empty space between the existing house and the corner.  This apparently is another lot, with a small house planned for the "in-laws" of the young family that is renovating the older house.

By Dec 13, there are some interesting concrete block walls going up.  Then on the 16th the middle highest section had the top 2 courses of blocks removed.

I'll wait till the construction guys go home before taking some more pics, to update the ongoing saga which means various noises every day.  I'm glad these guys get to move dirt and tear down trees, pour cement, and build block walls, since they are at it almost daily...and it seems unlikely that they have a floor plan to follow.  I think they just like to build, tear down, build again.  It is grown-up sand-box work, or so it seems to me!

As of Dec 17 this is what my view provides:

So I've lost the softening of old growth trees, kept the ugly derelict garage full of junk, and added the sound and sight (but fortunately not the smell) of a porta-potty.  Can't wait to see what next year brings!

Old Windows

Lovely old windows- leaning up against the garage wall, where they were dumped.

Some left over boards and a wall of wood paneling, which was an addition to the house probably in the 50s or before. 

Here are the old walls of the house, from inside, with the new windows installed.  Not opened however...left closed all the time the construction guys are putting  up exterior siding.

Last week the insulation people blew stuff into walls.  This week a huge truck load of drywall unloaded.  I don't think these views will ever be seen again of these windows.

A front room window shows the original diagonal wall framing under it, as well as light coming through, which has all been sealed up now.

This post is my offering to Sepia Saturday this week...
don't you see the connection?

The rennovation in the neighborhood

Woke up a few mornings ago to the thwap thwap of a nail gun.  There may have been a crew, but by the morning I caught the camera and the man at the same time, the job was almost done.

Neighbor's rennovation continues

For the last year or so, this house on the corner across from me has undergone changes.  This is the new kitchen wing.

I loved the stairs, which turn both at top and bottom to a side entrance

A dusty bench was given a butt-print!  We were a bit silly!  Since no back doors were on the house, we took a little tour.

The original structure includes 2x4's that still have bark on them, and diagonal undersiding and underflooring!

Chuck decided to count the rings on that oak that was removed.  He figures around 200 year old.

Here's a quote for the day:

Resistance tends to strengthen the energies it attempts to oppose by giving them power and energy to work against.