Ok - so it's hard to know where to begin this week. With only three days to work, because of the long weekend, Ed and the crew have been working at a blistering pace. Last week, you may remember, the first floor was decked and ready to start framing. Over the last three days the walls have gone up and much of the second floor has been decked. Part of the challenge with this house is joining the old and the new. In this photo, Ed is notching a post so that it will fit in with an existing beam on the old house. This is one of the many posts that Ed will be replacing because of rot and termite damage. Ed is using a special corner chisel to make sure that the corners are notched out.

Here you see the finished product fitting in nicely with the beam. After the post was in place, Hector used timber locks to secure it. With the beam in place, they were able to attach the new LVLs that will support the second floor exterior wall in the addition.

It is somewhat hard to get a sense of the rooms because the walls are just being framed but in the photo below you are seeing the dining room on the right and the front entry hall on the left and you're actually looking right through the stairs. Ed, Hector and Mike are taking great care to make sure that everything is level and square.

The photo below was taken from the Master Bedroom looking out on to the second floor of the addition where the master bath, guest bath and guest bedroom will be.

Here's the view from the second floor looking down into the kitchen. The beam to the left of the photo is an LVL - there are actually four 10" x 17' LVL beams nailed together. This will support the second floor.

Finally you can see that the sheathing is on part of the first floor and the windows and doors have been cut out. Still some problems to address with the joining of the old and new houses but things are rolling along!