Last week, after completely removing and replacing the ceiling and roof over the kitchen and den areas, the entire upper east wall of the house was removed and rebuilt. I can hardly tell you what it did to the pit of my stomach to watch that come down. Here's the view on Friday from my desk:
This week and today, they have removed and rebuilt the entire lower east wall, yesterday the den half and today the kitchen half. Here's a shot I took about an hour ago.
All the wood in those walls was wet from water intrusion from above via the leaky deck and from below, where the base of the walls was several 2x6 planks laid on their sides, not even bolted together, and without an appropriate concrete foundation to keep the wood out of contact with moisture. Without concrete separation and flashing, water has been wicking up the walls for 30 years.
We are now about $40,000 over budget.
And I haven't even had a crack this week to laugh over. I've told the crew they have until tomorrow to come up with something.
On the good side today I did find a supplier of a good looking chain mesh that I can use as a curtain over my appliance bar.
Also had an interesting conversation with the local appliance guy who told me that the Viking range I bought from them three years ago would cost $3-4 grand more today. Like most of the high end appliance makers, the annual rate increases had already occurred. He said they figure that 1) the people who had the money to buy these things won't be put off by it, and 2) they need to make more money from fewer customers to stay in business.