Our extended family took a much need holiday in August and in the weeks we were away, Fernando and his team finished up the stair case framing (made from light gauge steel), and any loose ends.

We have decided to take a step back and live in the unfinished space before closing in the walls. We like to think of it as luxury, urban camping with a comfy bed. But it will also give us better insight into how we use the space and what we want out of it before making the small but important decisions like where the toilet should be or if we actually need doors. So we gave the floors a lick of paint, pulled up the bed and wardrobe, and have been enjoying it for the last few weeks. The perfectly straight and evenly spaced steel studs and joists are actually a nice view – I think I’ll miss them when once they’re covered up.

Moving forward we will be updating the site, but it will be quite sporadic until we get back into the full swing of things next spring. Below is the compiled stop motion video from the live web camera we had mounted across the street. Looking back, I can’t believe it actually all happened in under a month. Enjoy.

Yesterday the windows went in, so now we are now fully enclosed. The idea for the frosted glass came about because we didn’t want window coverings in the bathroom and beside our bed in the master bedroom.

The framing was also started on the second floor opening where the stairs will come up. If you look closely, you can see the landing for the stairs has been built.

Fernando (our contractor)  just finished up cladding the exterior “cap” in preparation for the phenolic panels that will be installed at a later date. The most exciting news is that we’ve now broken through the 3rd story floor – so now there’s now access through the house. Pardon the low-res phone camera shots…

The last few days have been busy. The parapet walls on the roof were finished, the crane was taken away, and the roof went on. Tomorrow they are finishing some framing for the windows which are scheduled to go in on Friday.

It’s started raining this morning, so the tarps went back on the roof – I’m hoping for no more leaks! Yesterday the crew was here and they finished sheeting the roof deck, as well as installing the roof hatch. One nice surprise is that we’ll have a (very small) lake view from the roof.

The plan is to prep the opening tomorrow for the window install on Tuesday.

Another productive day! Once the pre-fab panels start going up, thing start moving fast. The window got lifted into the space (to be installed on Tuesday), and of the ceiling joists are in. The crew started sheeting the roof with 3/4″ concrete panels from Armoroc.

It was a very productive day for Fernando and his crew. All of the remaining walls and columns are now up. The iSpan joists will be installed tomorrow, and in the afternoon the windows are being delivered.